University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


•WOBIJM  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


FOUNDE1D  1856. 


THE 


DECK  OF  THE  CRESCENT  CITY; 


PICTURE  OF  AMERICAN  LIFE. 


WILLIAM    GILES    DIX. 


NEW    YOEK: 

GEOBGE    P.   PUTNAM   &    CO. 

1853. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1853,  by 

WILLIAM  G.  Dix, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts 


CAMBRIDGE: 
METCALP     AND     COMPANY, 

PRINTERS  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


THIS    VOLUME    IS    CORDIALLY   INSCRIBED 


RICHAKD  H.  DANA, 

An  American,  who,  had  he  lived  in  England,  would  no 
doubt  have  added  himself,  by  copious  fruits  of  meditation  and 
fancy,  to  the  illustrious  line  of  great  English  poets,  but  whose 
life,  being  cast  in  a  country  not  ripe  to  enjoy  "  divine  philos 
ophy,"  and  its 

u  perpetual  feast  of  nectared  sweets, 
Where  no  crude  surfeit  reigns," 

has  been  one  of  comparative  silence,  yet  whose  deep- toned 
harp  breathes  into  many  ears  inspiring  cadences,  and  grieves 
hearts  also  with  the  sure  conviction,  that,  in  time  to  come,  the 
stifling  of  such  music  will  bring  upon  the  land  more  just  igno 
miny  than  can  be  compensated  in  honor  by  all  the  swift  yachts, 
patent  locks,  six-barrelled  revolvers,  steamships  without  bow 
sprits,  and  metropolitan  hotels,  that  can  be  invented  between 
now  and  the  Day  of  Judgment. 


P  E  E  F  A  C  E . 


THE  larger  part  of  this  volume  was  printed 
nearly  a  year  ago,  but  was  thrown  aside  from 
dissatisfaction,  and  with  the  intention  to  recon 
struct  the  whole  from  the  beginning.  The  book 
has  been  recently  resumed  and  finished,  accord 
ing  to  the  first  plan,  with  as  deep  a  consciousness 
as  ever  of  its  defects  of  style,  but  with  no  essential 
distrust  of  its  general  sentiment.  The  specula 
tions  upon  the  purposes  of  Young  America  will 
seem  to  follow  the  public  cry,  but  they  were  in 
print  before  the  phrase  became  a  byword. 


CAMBRIDGE,  January,  1853. 


THE 


DECK  OF  THE  CRESCENT  CITY. 


ON  the  day  when  a  steamship  arrives  at  New 
York  from  Chagres,  bringing  a  freight  of  gold- 
dust  and  news  of  more  to  come,  the  national 
symbol  may  be  said  to  appear,  expanding  his 
wings  from  the  Battery  upward  as  far  as  one  can 
ride  for  sixpence ;  —  and  that  is  a  long  space, 
for  a  man  from  the  interior  of  the  State  or  of 
the  Nation,  being  at  the  mercantile  head-quarters 
of  his  country,  may  enter  one  of  the  vehicles,  in 
which  six  persons  may  look  six  others  out  of 
countenance  in  a  short  time,  while  a  seventh 
intruder  is  threatened  with  a  lasting  obliqueness 
of  sight,  from  having  no  one  directly  to  stare 
at,  and  being  obliged  to  divide  his  regards  be 
tween  two  faces,  each  but  half  opposite  to  his,  — 
the  stranger  may  enter  one  of  these  bulky  boxes, 
i 


2  THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

at  the  corner  of  a  street,  far  below  zero,  and 
thence  may  be  jolted  noisily  to  the  neighbor 
hood  of  number  fifty.  There,  paying  the  fare, 
he  may  stumble  out  of  the  equipage  with  glee, 
supposing  that  he  must  have  been  mistaken  for 
the  passenger  who  entered  but  two  streets  below, 
and  who,  he  imagines,  will  have  to  foot  the  bill 
of  his  cheap  excursion.  Thus  pleasantly  dis 
posed,  he  may  walk  back  leisurely,  finding  in 
the  windows  of  the  shops  an  ample  scope  for 
what  the  transcendental  sages  would  call  objec 
tive  amusement.  The  purchase,  at  auction,  of  a 
watch,  or  of  a  few  articles  of  jewelry,  may  alone 
convince  him  that  New  York  has  less  remunera 
tive  uses  for  rustic  capital  than  riding  in  an 
omnibus. 

The  presence  of  this  immense  eagle  enlivens 
the  whole  city,  and  every  nerve  that  centres  in 
the  brain  of  Wall  Street  thrills  beneath  the  ex 
hilarating  touch  of  the  air.  Speculative  ardors 
are  peculiarly  enkindled,  although  there  is,  daily, 
much  speculation,  interesting  to  one  party  or  the 
other,  and  sometimes  to  both.  Practical  gen 
tlemen,  who  never  express  opinions  of  enter 
prises  until  they  see  their  tangible  fruits,  poise 


THE   DECK    OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.  3 

thoughtfully  some  of  the  heavy  yellow  crumbs  in 
their  hands,  and  pronounce  the  Californian  ex 
citement  to  be  a  very  respectable  affair. 

Every  feather  of  the  eagle  trembles  with  ec 
stasy,  his  eyes  look  like  two  planets  visible  at 
noon,  and  his  screams  of  delight  are  audible  for 
miles.  He  is  not  content  to  remain  stationary, 
but,  compressing  his  form,  makes  use  of  the  gal 
vanic  wires,  and  flies  over  the  country,  declaring 
everywhere  the  receipts  of  gold,  and  the  discov 
ery  of  new  mines,  which  last  continue  to  be 
very  productive  in  the  public  journals,  until  pas 
sengers  are  engaged,  and  their  fares  paid,  for 
the  next  steamer  bound  for  the  Isthmus,  when  it 
sometimes  falls  out  that  their  value  is  less  than 
was  at  first  reported. 

The  eagle  dilates  his  size  at  frequent  inter 
vals  in  his  journey,  to  the  pleasurable  amazement 
of  the  people.  His  rays  make  the  whole  air 
shine  wherever  he  goes  ;  eyes  look  up  enchanted, 
and  the  brains  to  which  they  convey  the  news 
of  his  'arrival  are  also  fired  with  the  splendor. 
When  the  wires  fail,  he  condescends  to  use  the 
slower  conveyances  of  steam,  and  occasionally  he 
perches  himself  upon  the  top  of  an  old  stage, 


4  THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

where  he  gleams  like  a  sun,  on  an  excursion  of 
pleasure.  He  employs  editors  to  convey  his 
news  where  he  cares  not  himself  to  go,  and  he 
rewards  these  faithful  deputies  with  his  bright 
smiles,  and  sometimes  with  likenesses  of  himself, 
set  in  gold.  As  he  passes  over  roads,  embroid 
ered  with  fields  of  wheat,  the  husbandmen  shade 
their  eyes  from  the  reflected  glare  of  their 
scythes,  and  looking  up,  perceive  the  cause  of 
^the  dazzling  light;  then,  suspending  their  toil, 
they  repair  to  the  nearest  inns  to  hear  the  last 
intelligence  from  the  mines.  The  stagemen  are 
always  proud  of  their  outside  passenger,  who, 
shouting  and  shining  in  his  revelry,  startles  every 
neighborhood  with  his  brightness  and  noise. 

Finally,  on  completing  his  luminous  circuit 
over  mountains,  lakes,  and  rivers,  he  repairs  to 
the  Falls  of  Niagara,  to  remain  there  until  an 
other  arrival  summons  him  away.  He  enthrones 
himself  high  among  the  vapors,  which  rather  in 
crease  than  dim  his  effulgence,  and  he  buoys  his 
immensity  in  a  way  unknown.  He  expands  his 
wings  so  widely,  that  one  may  reflect  the  first 
beams  of  the  sun,  and  the  other  the  last,  ex 
tending  his  left  wing  over  the  Atlantic  sea,  on 


THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.  5 

account  of  the  unequal  width  of  land  to  be  over 
spread.  Thus  imperially  placed,  he  looks  with 
some  scorn  on  the  unproductive,  watery  glories 
beneath,  makes  the  arch  of  inwoven  rays  of 
mercy,  truth,  and  beauty  his  footstool,  mingles 
with  the  ascending  music  his  shrill  cries  of  gold ! 
gold!  gold!  and  acknowledges,  with  ceaseless 
vibrations  of  his  glittering  beak  and  fiery  eyes, 
the  adoration  paid  to  him  by  innumerable  bend 
ed  knees  or  prostrate  faces.  . 

Multitudes  now  ponder  the  design  of  searching 
for  the  rich  treasures,  of  which  such  brilliant 
promises  have  been  lavished  abroad,  indorsed  by 
actual  success.  Every  generous  or  selfish  mo 
tive  for  accumulation  is  excited,  and  all  purposes 
for  which  money  can  be  spent  to  purchase  pleas 
ure  are  entertained  by  the  fancy.  Every  social 
rank  and  every  calling  feels  its  degree  of  the 
reflective  influence.  The  Western  hunter,  taking 
up  the  last  journal  that  has  reached  his  secluded 
abode,  and  reading  its  alluring  intelligence,  lays 
aside  his  faithful  rifle,  with  which  he  has  hunted 
the  swift  and  graceful  deer,  that,  startled  by  his 
rustling  step  in  her  quiet  solitude,  has  cast  one 
vain  glance  at  the  clear  brook  at  her  side,  and 


6  THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

then  fled,  for  safety,  to  the  depth  of  the  tangled 
forest:  he  resolves  to  go  in  chase  of  the  gold- 
bearing  quartz.  The  farmer,  visiting  his  brown 
acres,  and  seeing  how  slowly  springs  up  the 
grain  which  he  has  planted,  reflecting  how  much 
rain  and  sunshine  must  fall  upon  the  earth,  how 
much  toiling  culture  he  must  himself  expend, 
before  the  sheaves  will  stand  before  him,  good 
sentinels  against  the  scourge  of  want,  determines 
to  change  his  farm  to  a  geological  investment  of 
another  kind,  more  portable,  and  yielding  quicker 
dividends.  The  fisherman,  who  has  labored  dili 
gently  with  his  hook  and  line  for  the  lively,  shining 
treasures  of  the  "Banks,"  deems  it  well  to  visit 
the  banks  in  the  opposite  section  of  the  continent, 
which  yield  a  discount  to  persistent  spades.  The 
keeper  of  the  shop  is  ready  to  forsake  his  Cash 
mere  vale  of  luxurious  goods,  visited  by  lovelier 
guests  than  ever  breathed  the  air  of  Persia,  con 
cluding,  after  many  sighs,  that  it  will  be  as  cap 
tivating  to  sift  gold  through  iron  sieves,  as  to 
receive  it,  with  the  bright  usury  of  smiles,  from 
hands  that  make  the  lilies  envious. 

The  young  lawyer,  who  has  opened  his  office 
to  adjust  family  quarrels  and  other   disputes  at 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  7 

fair  prices,  but  who  finds  that  legal  brethren, 
as  briefless  as  himself,  instead  of  clients,  "  come 
in"  at  his  call,  —  who  may  have  made  his  first 
plea  in  trying  to  save  his  flesh-colored  library 
from  the  jaws  of  an  execution,  and  may  have 
written  fewer  lawyer's  letters  than  he  has  re 
ceived,  —  feels  inclined,  after  summing  up  his 
case,  to  promote  the  sovereignty  of  justice  and 
his  personal  fortune  in  California.  The  surgeon, 
of  narrower  ministration  than  is  comfortable,  who 
keeps  his  instruments  ever  bright,  that,  when 
required,  they  may  work  brilliantly,  believes  that 
it  will  be  philanthropic  to  exert  his  skill,  now 
lying  fallow,  in  the  relief  of  much  unforeseen  suf 
fering  in  the  new  settlements,  being  certain  that, 
if  he  cannot  apply  the  lancet  to  the  vital  courses 
of  other  people,  he  can,  at  least,  use  a  pickaxe 
on  the  harder  veins,  that  supply  many  wants  of 
life.  The  clergyman,  knowing  that  his  appropri 
ate  province  lies  wherever  men  are  found,  if, 
while  valuing  truth  supremely,  he  disallows,  by 
his  example  and  his  word,  the  reclusive  sanctity 
which  frowns  on  doing  good  to  men ;  feeling  that 
the  love  of  God,  the  germ,  however  sadly  worn 
by  time,  of  the  Atlantic  settlements,  should  not 


8  THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

yield  wholly  to  the  love  of  gold,  the  principle  of 
the  Pacific  State,  prepares  to  depart  with  the 
crowd,  that  he  may  help  in  guiding  aright  the 
luxuriance  of  a  nation's  rugged  life. 

Beside  the  delegation  from  New  York  in  every 
steamer  for  Chagres,  and  others  more  or  less  fa 
miliar  with  the  city,  strangers  arrive  from  every 
quarter,  who  have  never  seen  the  Atlantic  metrop 
olis  before,  except  in  their  dreams,  when  it  has 
appeared  about  as  large  as  all  the  capitals  of  Eu 
rope  together,  and  the  famous  fountain  in  the  Park 
has  thrown  its  waters  so  far  and  high,  that  they 
are  sure  it  must  be  seen  for  many  miles  at  sea. 
Sight  surpasses  their  previous  fancy,  and  some  one 
more  astounded  than  the  rest  may  really  conclude 
that  no  larger  city  ever  was  or  could  be  built  on  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and  he  may  wonder  why  people 
should  still  think  of  extending  it.  After  much 
attentive  walking  about,  they  return  to  their  inns 
at  a  loss  whether  they  are  distracted  or  enchanted, 
but,  as  it  costs  something  to  reach  the  city  and  to 
stay  in  it,  they  incline  to  believe  themselves  pleas- 
urably  excited.  The  city  regards  her  rural  ad 
mirers  with  very  little  of  the  astonished  rapture 
with  which  they  gaze  upon  her. 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  9 

The  strangers  and  residents,  who  intend  taking 
passage  for  the  Isthmus,  whether  familiar  or  not 
with  steamships,  have  a  presage  of  the  trouble  of 
embarking,  which  is  fully  met  when  they  reach 
the  neighborhood  blackened  by  the  vast  moving 
tower.  The  host  of  excited  people  there  seems 
like  one  great  human  monster,  very  uneasy  and 
trying  to  move  in  diverse  ways  at  once.  The 
consciousness  of  being  vexed  is  the  only  pledge  of 
personality.  The  tumult  discomposes  every  man ; 
and  the  strongest  nerves,  as  in  other  panics,  draw 
to  the  extent  of  their  available  tension,  and  the 
weakest  follow  the  usual  course  in  such  cases,  and 
do  as  they  can.  Most  of  the  passengers  are  of 
the  enterprising  kind  of  people  who  have  never 
learned  to  move  slowly,  and  ask  of  others  no  favor 
but  to  make  room ;  and  that  often  in  tones  far 
from  courtly,  that  grate  on  sensitive  ears.  Reli 
ance  on  self  is  their  ruling  star,  and  any  resist 
ance  to  its  spell  sets  their  energies  on  fire. 

The  whole  structure  is  marvellous  to  eyes  that 
may  never  have  beheld  such  things,  except  when 
an  over-indulgence  in  distilled  harvests  may  have 
summoned  images  of  terror  before  the  couch 
of  satiety.  The  passenger,  especially  if  he  be  un- 


10          THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

used  to  such  scenes,  fears,  from  the  prevailing 
hurry,  that  he  will  be  too  late,  and,  in  his  reckless 
apprehension,  he  may  seize  roughly  hold  of  the 
first  man  without  a  coat  whom  he  meets,  and  ask 
him  if  he  be  a  porter,  or  one  of  those  useful  as 
sistants  may  prevent  such  rudeness  by  a  volun 
tary  proffer  of  service,  for  a  price.  His  trunks 
and  boxes,  containing,  beside  his  own  property,  a 
few  small  parcels  committed  to  his  care  for  friends 
in  California,  lie  in  confusion  before  him :  the 
crowd  presses  by  in  nervous  haste ;  some  indi 
viduals,  fixing  their  eyes  on  the  goal  more  than  on 
the  way,  stumble  over  his  heap  of  baggage,  and, 
springing  up  bruised  all  over,  glare  at  him  fierce 
ly,  and  add  unlovely  expressions ;  losing  his  control 
over  himself,  in  his  despair,  he  gives  a  quarter  of 
a  dollar  to  each  of  three  little  staring  colored  boys 
near  him,  either  from  a  vague  belief  that  the  gift 
will  facilitate  his  affairs  in  some  magical  way,  or 
simply  as  a  token  of  his  manly  faith  in  the  unity 
of  the  race ;  he  thinks  that  he  hears  the  wheels 
moving,  and  that  he  may  as  well  turn  and  go  home  ; 
but  the  porter  has  already  in  his  arms  a  part  of  his 
luggage,  and  now  he  has  a  new  trouble :  he  is  in 
doubt  whether  to  go  with  him,  and  see  that  he  puts 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.          11 

safely  on  board  the  goods  that  he  has  taken,  or 
to  stay,  guarding  what  remains ;  there  is  no  time 
for  delay;  he  intrusts  a  valuable  trunk  to  a  man, 
who  may  be  a  pattern  of  every  moral  virtue,  but 
whom  he  never  saw  before,  and  watches  for  him 
to  return  and  take  the  rest  of  his  equipment,  that 
he  may  reach  the  deck  at  last,  if  he  can,  with  no 
immediate  responsibilities  behind. 

At  length,  after  reaching  the  ship,  he  pays  the 
porter's  fee  with  a  sunny  suavity  that  adds  to  it 
one  third  more  value,  arranges  in  his  dark  but 
snug  quarters  the  goods  and  chattels  which  he 
allows  to  himself  for  the  voyage,  sees  the  rest 
stowed  in  a  close  and  gloomy  prison,  and  having 
thus  gone  through  his  part  in  the  lively  drama, 
with  much  silent  applause  from  himself,  he  as 
cends  to  the  upper  deck,  and  strives  to  appear  as 
quietly  as  if  his  only  motive  for  being  there  were 
to  study  humanity  under  excitement.  He  looks 
with  thoughtful  complacency  upon  the  struggling 
crowd  below,  playing  a  much  involved  game  of 
cross-purposes ;  and,  puzzled  out  of  his  senses  as 
he  was,  and  having  drawn  them  back  by  main 
force  only,  commends  his  superior  presence  of 
mind,  and  feels  like  a  hero  who  has  been  in  the 
wars. 


12  THE   DECK    OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

Now  composed,  he  removes  the  perspiration 
from  his  face,  and  takes  from  his  hat  the  daily 
journal,  which  he  bought  at  the  steps  of  his  hotel 
from  the  young  vender,  whom  he  counselled,  with 
a  genuine  interest  in  his  health,  to  soothe  his  voice 
with  some  emollient  compound,  which  the  youthful 
speculator  promised,  if  he  could  have  a  double 
price  for  his  paper  ;  and,  on  his  suggestion  being 
kindly  met,  moved  away  with  his  coppers  and 
other  extras,  shouting  his  intellectual  wares  more 
hoarsely  than  ever. 

He  begins  to  read  the  discourse  of  the  editor, 
aiming  to  show  that  the  members  of  the  Execu 
tive  Cabinet,  so.  far  from  feeling  any  jar  in  their 
consultations  about  the  national  welfare,  resemble, 
in  their  attachment  to  the  good  of  the  Republic, 
the  spokes  of  a  wheel ;  not  one  spoke  being 
crooked,  out  of  place,  or  unfavorable  to  the 
adjustment  of  ways  and  means  by  which  the 
wheel  of  state  revolves  easily,  swiftly,  and  musi 
cally  along  the  path  of  manifest  destiny. 

Soon  finding  that  his  attentive  power  is  less 
than  he  supposed  it  to  be,  he  looks  up  and  around, 
and  on  the  paper  again,  which  is  now  turned  to 
an  ocean  of  discord,  where  ideas  united  once,  and 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  13 

treating  of  unity  in  others,  are  wrenched  out  of. 
shape,  and  dislocated  spokes,  tires,  and  hubs  cross 
each  other  every  way,  while  national  destinies, 
passengers,  trunks,  iron  houses  packed  in  boxes, 
like  sections  of  sea-serpents,  to  be  put  together 
again  elsewhere,  steam-engines,  editors,  and  con 
stitutional  advisers,  are  beaten  about,  as  if  they 
were  contending  with  a  tornado  from  one  quarter 
and  a  Gibraltar  current  from  another.  To  sober 
his  brain,  he  folds  up  the  paper,  puts  it  in  his  hat, 
and  looks  about  on  the  deck.  The  spectacle  of 
the  thronging  men,  having  in  the  main  a  common 
destination,  but  of  various  traits  and  motives,  sug 
gests  to  him  many  thoughts  on  the  new  tide  of 
popular  excitement. 

If  young  men  are  Young  America,  there  are 
many  members  here  of  that  ideal  community 
of  persons,  who  can  have  little  concert  with 
Young  England,  if  this  brotherhood  be  really  de 
signing  to  restore  the  Middle  Ages,  and  to  bend 
the  world  again  to  the  pressure  of  the  feudal 
yoke.  The  most  cordial  American  admirer  of 
that  period  would  hardly  wish  to  retract  from  the 
world's  history  the  name  and  voyages  of  Colum 
bus,  or  even  those  of  the  less  noble  Spanish  ad- 


14          THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

venturers  who  came  after  him,  and  to  revive  the 
civil,  social,  and  sacrificial  polities  of  the  Aztecs 
and  of  the  Incas,  with  the  wilder  usages  of  the 
aborigines,  more  rough  and  red,  dispersed  in 
regions  farther  north. 

During  the  Middle  Ages,  the  only  monastic  re 
cluses  in  America  were  the  vast  forests,  which, 
clad  in  emerald  vestments,  an  order  of  their  own, 
or  in  brown,  or  pearly  white,  bowed  their  sup 
pliant  heads  in  unison,  and  sighed  their  prayers 
upon  the  whispering  winds ;  while  the  sun,  the 
abbot  of  the  order,  paid  his  matinal  and  vesperal 
homage,  kneeling  at  daily  consecrated  altars, 
flaming  with  every  kind  of  precious  radiance,  in 
the  eastern  and  western  chancels  of  the  abbey  of 
the  blue  horizon,  and  devoutly  proffered,  through 
the  duteous  hours,  his  service  of  refulgence ;  the 
choristers,  that  chanted  the  breviary  of  gladness, 
with  no  days  of  sorrow  interspersed,  were  the 
fathers  of  mighty  tides,  the  waterfalls  radiant 
with  mist,  the  lakes,  seas,  oceans,  striking  the 
keys  of  instrumental  shores,  and  the  birds,  war 
bling  in  the  seclusions  of  their  oaken  screens; 
the  only  illuminated  missals  were  the  leaves  of 
autumn,  signals  of  the  years  that,  crowned  with 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  15 

glories,  die  patiently  by  frosty  pain,  that  other 
years  may  spring  to  life ;  the  only  rosaries  were 
the  changes  which  the  faithful  seasons  told  in 
the  vigils  of  their'  journeys  ;  the  only  adoring 
incense  was  the  fragrance  flung  from  floral  cen 
sers,  waving  with  voluntary  motion  in  the  air ; 
the  only  consecrated  bells  that  summoned  nature's 
agencies  to  worship  were  hung  high  in  towers  of 
dark,  shadowy  clouds,  and  their  great  tongues  of 
awful  sound  were  made  to  beat  by  chains  of  fire  ; 
the  only  pilgrimages  were  made  by  crowds  of  re 
joicing  winged  life,  from  regions  invaded  by  win 
ter  to  shrines  of  constant  summer ;  the  only  wars 
and  tournaments  were  those  of  scattered  savage 
tribes,  for  every  residence  of  earthly  beauty  that 
man  once  sees  he  is  sure  to  mark  with  blood. 

Young  America  seldom  glances  to  those  ages, 
called  dark  by  many,  chiefly  because  neither  the 
streets  of  the  cities,  the  aisles  and  altars  of  the 
churches  were  lighted  by  inflammatory  gas,  nor 
private  houses  in  the  same  way,  or  by  explosive 
fluids,  occasionally  fatal  to  people  who  desire 
the  lightest  light  the  lightest  age  can  give ;  and 
because  the  meditative  men,  who  lived  by  breath 
ing  the  oppressive  air,  supposed  to  have  over- 


16          THE   DECK    OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

spread  the  world  -  then  like  a  huge  black  mantle, 
through  which  the  stars  looked  like  eyes  of  tigers 
seen  through  the  grim  tempest  of  a  tropic  night, 
—  because  these  men,  not  being  all  their  dajs 
intent  on  means  to  render  this  life  excessively 
convenient,  sometimes  made  fantastic  flights  of 
logic,  to  define  the  feats  of  sprightly  angels,  it 
passing  notice  that  these  vagaries  occurred  in 
the  course  of  contemplation  on  sublimer  matters 
than  concern  "  this  punctual  spot,"  and  that 
thoughtful  men,  even  now,  might  divine  the 
antics  of  equally  volatile  and  gymnastic  spirits  ; 
as,  for  instance,  how  small  a  force  of  that  much 
adored  archangel,  steam,  would  send  five  hundred 
human  beings  into  the  air,  to  a  height  of  eighty 
feet  nine  inches,  allowing  but  one  twentieth  of 
the  number  to  come  down  alive  ;  or  how  many 
of  those  singing  seraphim  revolvers,  patented 
by  fatherly  governments  desiring  to  please  their 
playful  children,  would  shoot  every  tenth  man  in 
the  street;  or  how  many  of  those  flashing  cherubs, 
bowie-knives,  would  decimate  the  rest  of  the 
citizens  with  their  sharp  wings,  the  recipients  of 
the  angelic  goodness  to  be  speedily  borne  home 
to  gentle  wives  and  prattling  children. 


THE   DECK   OF  THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  17 

Whatever  the  members  of  Young  America  may 
think  of  "laws  and  learning,"  they  would  not 
respond,  "  Let  trade  and  commerce  die  "  ;  and 
they  hold  not  in  special  honor  the  "  old  nobility  " 
of  any  time  or  country.  The  whimseys  of  these 
hasty  words  of  youth  should  be  forgiven,  since 
they  signify  a  spirit  that  deems  not  the  strife 
for  riches  the  divinest  thing  on  earth.  If  there 
be  here  no  prerogatives  of  birth,  and  but  few  to 
wish  them  to  be  kept,  wherever  they  may  be,  at 
the  hazard  of  humanity,  yet,  if  the  "  old  nobility  " 
of  Philosophy,  who  draw  revenues  of  wisdom  from 
tenantries  of  thoughtful  years,  bequeathe  to  after 
times  estates  rich  in  the  castles,  parks,  and  fertile 
acres  of  Truth,  and  store  the  treasures  of  medi 
tation  in  palaces  of  crystal  beauty,  bright  with 
the  gathered  rays  of  every  nation's  mind ;  if  the 
royal  host  of  Imagination,  gleaming  with  sceptres 
and  diadems  of  grace,  informing  nature  with  spirit 
ual  glory,  from  this  single  earth  to  every  sphere, 
of  steady  or  of  twinkling  beams,  which  Science 
through  pure  convexities  can  see,  or  with  construc 
tive  figures  build  in  space  beyond  the  reach  of 
sharpest  aids  of  sight,  breathing  throughout  the 
air  entrancing  harmonies,  setting  the  histories  of 


18  THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

nations  in  immortal  gold,  and  changing  the  lives, 
toils,  passions,  woes,  defeats,  and  victories  of  men 
into  glad  or  sorrowful  shapes  of  beauty,  quivering 
with  the  pulses  of  conceptive  mind ;  if  this  peer 
age,  wearing  coronets  at  the  court  of  queenly 
contemplation,  and  this  enthroned  regality  of  light, 
receiving  homage  from  the  loyal  ages,  are  to  be 
despoiled  of  their  rights  and  domains  by  legions  of 
reckless  Enterprise,  —  then  let  that  Vandal  and 
his  crew  begone,  to  work  harmless  ruin  in  un- 
shapen  chaos,  and  distract  no  more  this  august 
and  beauteous  Universe. 

Thus  far  the  spirit  of  the  West,  had  she  a 
voice,  sighing  among  the  noises  of  machinery 
and  the  screaming  of  steam- whistles,  not  for  a 
place  to  think,  for  there  is  room  enough,  but  for 
the  liberty  of  thought  and  fancy's  flight,  would 
echo  the  protest,  meant  uprightly,  but  expressed 
with  heedless  heat,  against  an  age  irreverent  of 
aught  but  transient  and  material  good. 

If  it  be  of  little  moment  whether  or  not  men  be 
on  the  way  towards  Heaven,  if  they  can  but  cross 
the  ocean  in  a  week ;  if  Art  must  yield  her  prov 
inces  to  the  sharp,  colored  outlines  of  Geology, 
resembling  rainbows  exploded  usefully  into  heaps 


THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.  19 

of  disorderly  and  awkward  angles  ;  if  the  affluence 
of  Eternity  can  suggest  no  Epic  or  Dramatic  ca 
dences,  because  men  have  no  time  to  be  inspired 
by  other  muses  than  can  sing  statistics,  or  descrip 
tions  so  exquisite  that  it  shall  be  harder  to  see 
the  picture  of  the  mazy  verses  than  to  follow  the 
shyest  differential  sign  through  starry  labyrinths 
of  space ;  if  it  is  to  be  a  traveller's  chief  object 
here  to  know  the  cost,  color,  and  dimensions  of  a 
flaming  steamer,  plying  up  and  down  the  Mississip 
pi,  glorious  for  wrecks,  until  her  turn  shall  come  to 
explode  magnificently,  or  to  die  breathing  fire,  to 
begin  again  and  continue  longer,  —  or  to  estimate 
the  exact  quantity  of  water  pouring  over  Niagara 
in  a  minute,  and  to  apply  a  measuring-line  to  the 
most  striking  points  of  view ;  or  if  people  are  to 
travel  in  the  old  hemisphere  in  the  sunlight  and 
shadow  of  nature  and  of  history,  using  their  per 
ception  only,  unmindful  that  the  chief  use  of  the 
voices  and  of  the  visible  splendors  of  the  globe 
is  to  widen  and  deepen  reflection,  to  refine  the 
imagination,  and  to  fasten  the  tendrils  of  the 
soul  more  closely  to  the  Throne  above  ;  if  the 
surveyor  of  the  line  jof  a  projected  railroad  is 
to  be  the  highest  reach  of  man ;  if  Heaven 


20  THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

itself  is  to  be  set  forth  as  a  noisy  Paradise, 
where  sublimated  ship-builders  and  engineers 
contrive  and  effect  their  plans  to  the  minstrelsy 
of  chanting  saws  and  warbling  locomotives ;  if 
classical  times,  or  any  ages  of  mental  splendor, 
are  to  be  laughed  at,  because  no  iron  tracks  were 
then  spread  over  the  earth,  the  veins  of  a  more 
easy  than  exalted  life,  or  vessels,  shaped  like 
winged  wedges,  to  cut  the  surface  of  the  ocean 
swiftly,  or  to  sink,  if  they  must,  gently  and  con 
veniently  ;  if  victorious  yachts  are  to  enjoy  ova 
tions,  and  toiling  scholars  to  be  denounced  as 
idlers ;  if  that  is  to  be  emblazoned  as  the  holiest 
miracle  of  time,  which  subjected  plebeian,  dingy 
coals  to  such  inspiring  heat  that  they  were  just 
ready  to  turn,  shrieking  with  the  fiery  pain,  to 
white,  angelic  diamonds  ;  if  it  is  to  be  the  fortieth 
article  of  faith,  that  the  House  of  Glass,  though 
taken  down,  will  be  put  together  again,  and  be 
transported  visibly  by  seraphic  battalions,  clad,  for 
compliment's  sake,  in  the  attire  of  all  nations,  to 
the  fairest  island  of  the  blest,  to  amaze  for  ever 
the  illuminated  saints,  who  consider  ornamental 
furniture  superior  to  intellectual  grace  or  spiritual 
beauty  ;  if  every  flower  of  the  spirit  is  to  be  with- 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  21 

ered  by  the  deadly  day  of  energy  intent  on  lifeless 
things  ;  —  then  welcome  again  the  lunar  splendor, 
moving  orbs,  and  golden  suns  of  night. 

From  east  to  west,  from  west  to  east,  may 
the  resistance  to  usurping  powers  grow,  until  the 
true  sovereignty  shall  regain  her  rightful  throne 
and  sceptre.  Then,  after  a  century  of  longer  pu 
pilage,  the  imagination  here  shall  be  ready  to  ex 
alt  her  pinions  to  the  Sun,  and  more  appreciative 
thanks  shall  be  felt  and  given  for  the  intangible 
but  precious  dowries  that  now  sustain  the  new 
world's  mental  life.  For 

Whoe'er  shall  o'er  the  snowy  Andes  roam, 
Shall  find  Cervantes  near  those  heights  at  home. 
No  name  of  splendor  shines  upon  the  page 
Of  Spain,  diffusing  light  from  age  to  age, 
But  there,  enthroned  o'er  vales  of  beauty,  lives, 
And  with  the  majesty  of  nature  strives. 

So  he,  whose  ashes,  guarded  well,  repose 
Near  where  the  illustrious  Avon's  current  flows, 
Is  not  his  native  land's  alone  ; —  his  name 
For  that,  for  this,  for  the  whole  world  we  claim. 
Men's  souls,  true  magnets,  his  attraction  know ; 
Cold  hearts,  submissive  to  his  ardor,  glow ; 


22  THE   DECK   OE   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

Sad  spirits  aloft  with  his  wings  gaily  soar  ; 

Scholars  prefer  his  voice  to  Roman  lore  ; 

The  sober  quaff  his  full  and  lively  cup  ; 

His  silvery  tones  make  Mammon  to  look  up. 

The  bank  of  reason  ;  treasury  of  sense  ; 

Imagination's  empire  ;  fancy's  tents  ; 

The  fire  of  eagles'  sight ;  eyes  of  the  dove ; 

The  passions'  armory  ;  the  bowers  of  love  ; 

Reflection's  temple  ;  nature  and  the  world, 

Standards  of  light  upon  man's  march  unfurled  ; — 

His  willing  cadences  such  duties  serve ; 

Faint,  weary  wills  his  liberal  muses  nerve  ; 

Motives,  in  hosts,  coursing,  like  eagles,  high 

In  the  horizon  of  humanity. 

Wheel  their  swift,  thronging  flight  his  presence 
near, 

The  inciting,  glorious  melodies  to  hear, 

Which,  sovereign  bard,  he  sings,  enthroned  sub 
lime, 

To  nations  listening  in  the  halls  of  Time. 

Many,  who  ne'er  a  royal  crown  have  seen, 
Attend  the  Court  held  by  the  Faery  Queen, 
Where  spread  the  holy  rays  from  Una's  face, 
The  chosen  mirror  of  most  saintly  grace  ; 


THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.  23 

While  valiant  knights  press  to  the  martial  hall, 
To  answer,  each,  to  memory's  shrill  roll-call. 
Triumphs  of  honor  and  of  valor  won, 
Fair  deeds  of  goodness,  wrongs  and  errors  done, 
The  moral  virtues  which  in  man  should  dwell, 
Their  lessons  teach,  in  falls  of  music,  well. 

Glow  thick,  bright  leaves  of  Transatlantic  bays 
With  laurels  offered  to  his  worthy  praise, 
Whose  spirit,  bereft  of  its  organic  sight, 
Coursed,  like  yon  Sun,  in  more  ethereal  light, 
Visions  sublime  as  those  of  prophets  saw, 
Or  those  when  thunders  heralded  the  Law. 
Before  him  oped  the  gates  of  God's  abode ; 
And  glaring  spheres  unblest  perspectives  showed. 
His  wand  anew  made  sinless  Eden  spring, 
And  o'er  unruly  Chaos  set  a  King, 
Conducted  seraphs  to  converse  with  man, 
Ere  from  chief  help  his  bitterest  woe  began, 
Summoned  to  the  ear  adoring  minstrelsies, 
And  choral  sounds  of  hissing  blasphemies, 
Depicted  every  archangelie  grace, 
Satan's  defiant  and  malignant  face, 
Made  hearts  beat  quick,  portraying  fearfully 
The  Trinal  Throne  of  Trinal  Deity. 


24          THE  DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

His  well-wrought  temple  throughout  time  shall  be 
The  home  on  earth  of  heavenly  harmony, 
Till  o'er  the  globe  no  floods  of  wrong  shall  pour, 
Till  men  benighted  see  the  dawn  once  more, 
And  when  their  errors  shall  to  naught  have  waned, 
Breathe  life  divine  in  Paradise  Regained. 
Would  that  men  ever  lived,  content,  like  him, 
Dear  sight  to  feel  to  beauteous  nature  dim, 
Hearts  broken,  too,  by  contumely  intense, 
Through  fervent  work  in  Liberty's  defence. 

The  bold,  untutored  tinker's  regal  beams 
The  sleeping  soul  awake  with  dawning  dreams, 
Through  iron  bars  glowing  the  way  to  show, 
How  shackled  hearts  may  truest  freedom  know  ; 
How  men  of  grief  may  be  with  gladness  blest, 
And  pilgrims  weary  reach  a  place  of  rest ; 
How  falls  repeated  may  give  strength  to  fly, 
And  rivers  dark  lead  upward  to  the  sky ; 
How  to  the  poor  may  richest  boons  be  given, 
And  sons  of  earth  inherit  holy  Heaven. 

Here  no  renowned  and  ancient  Abbey  springs, 
Where  Fame  exultant  spreads  her  golden  wings 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.          25 

O'er  names  of  those  who  nobly  lived,  or  died, 
The  sons  of  Britain,  but  the  whole  earth's  pride, 
Yet  many  a  one  who  ne'er  may  see  that  shrine 
To  what  in  man  is  nearest  to  divine, 
Nor  thoughtful  o'er  its  honored  pavement  stroll, 
May  have  a  "  poet's  corner  "  in  his  soul, 
And  storied  names  and  deeds  of  glory  there 
May  presence  more  than  memory's  record  share. 

Here  pensive  tears  from  many  eyes  are  shed 

O'er  the  sad  name  of  Missolonghi's  dead, 

Grieving  so  soon  was  quenched  his  brilliant  rayr 

So  early  set  his  intellectual  day. 

His  home  ancestral,  desolate,  intwined 

With  splendors  heavenly  bright,  set  forth  his  mind. 

Not  broken  wholly  by  time's  constant  flood, 

That  stately,  old,  and  hallowed  structure  stood. 

Various  benignant  graces  there  allied, 

Dispensing  beauty,  ranged  on  every  side, 

Till  crumbling  walls  to  tempered  glory  grew  ; 

Windows,  once  stained  with  every  holy  hue, 

Now  richly  shone  with  sober  stains  of  time 

And  verdure  mixed,  emblazoned  by  the  prime. 

In  corridors,  low,  suppliant  echoes  still 

There  seemed  to  breathe,  sonorous  chimes  to  fill 


26  THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

The  measured  air  abroad  ;  again  the  shrine 
Summoned  the  worship  of  the  time  benign. 
When  to  the  gorgeous  chapel's  roof  ascended 
The  choral  hymns  with  clouds  of  incense  blended. 
As  if  the  poet's  very  soul  had  known 
A  glorious  life,  which  since  afar  had  flown, 
It  now,  renouncing  former  sacred  use, 
Resigned  to  revelry's  unkind  abuse, 
Subdued  the  passions'  yoke  of  fire  to  wear, 
The  kneeling,  lowly  heart  most  wanting  there, 
Inspiring,  noble  in  its  ruins,  showed 
Likeness  to  that  once  consecrate  abode. 
On  such  must  woes  in  heavy  numbers  press, 
Too  much  distraught  for  household  tenderness. 

Rightly  he  knew  his  art's  true  province  well, 
Less  with  the  outward  universe  to  dwell, 
Than  man's  informing  nature  to  rehearse, 
Less  inventories  to  compose  in  verse 
Of  flowers,  as  if  the  fragrant  textures  frail 
Were  to  be  offered  plausibly  for  sale, 
Or  to  frame  timid  couplets  soft  to  cheer 
And  please  a  pensive  maiden's  twilight  ear, 
Than  to  man's  conscious,  eager  sight  to  bring 
His  beating  heart,  its  energies  to  sing. 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.          27 

Hence,  tho'  with  grievous  wrongs  and  woes  beset, 
He  holds  his  firm,  majestic  station  yet, 
Hence,  searching  eyes  can  find  no  worthier  one, 
To  fill  the  five,  that  Chaucer's  name  begun. 

Sank  suddenly  a  graceful  spirit  to  sleep, 
Beneath  Italia's  angry,  frowning  deep, 
"Who,  thoughtful  o'er  the  mysteries  of  life, 
Turned  sunny  youth  to  stern,  discursive  strife, 
To  solve  the  reason,  in  a  world  so  fair, 
Of  evil,  cankering,  darkening  all  the  air. 
Striving  in  vain  to  see  the  cause  apart 
From  deep  perversion  of  man's  wayward  heart, 
Upon  his  doubting  way  he  wandered  far 
Beyond  the  radiance  of  the  eastern  star, 
And  gasped  his  life  away,  too  soon  again 
To  find  the  path  of  surest  faith  for  men. 
He  wrought  and  erred,  desiring  human  good  ; 
Let  mercy  trust,  that,  rising  o'er  the  flood, 
«He  dazzled  out  his  unbelieving  night 
In  sudden  brightness  of  unending  light. 
The  more  a  man  is  he  who  seeks  for  day, 
Than  he  who  sighs  not  for  Truth's  open  way  ; 
An  erring  mind  may  be  by  grace  forgiven, 
A  stagnant  soul  can  have  no  place  in  Heaven. 


28  THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

Others,  with  life's  full,  genial  compass  blest, 
Like  setting  suns,  yet  linger  in  the  West. 
The  living  bards  may  seas  of  blessing  lave  ; 
May  brightest  dews  adorn  the  mountain  grave, 
And  fragrances  perennial  bless  the  bowers, 
Where  contemplation  ruled  the  tranquil  hours  ; 
May  the  glad  music  of  the  running  brook, 
The  gaily  rustling  leaves  that  on  it  look, 
The  merry  birds,  joyous  cascades,  unite 
A  strain  of  Borrow  in  their  full  delight 
For  him  who  used,  with  thoughtful  feet,  to  press 
The  paths  of  earth's  secluded  loveliness. 
May  wafted  memories  of  a  peaceful  life, 
Remotely  spent  afar  from  constant  strife, 
Blessing  the  air,  for  ages  long  endure. 
May  every  figured  thought,  exalted,  pure, 
Refresh  the  heart,  stifled  by  earthly  dust, 
And  brush  away  obscuring,  sordid  rust. 
May  the  sure  presence  of  a  right  intent 
Sorrow  allay  that  vigor  was  not  bent, 
With  zeal  more  urgent,  and  with  impulse  bold, 
To  grasp  man's  heart,  and  keep  the  nervous  hold. 

May  the  time  past  suffice  for  deeming  man 
The  mere  appurtenance  to  nature's  plan, 


THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.          29 

When,  without  him.  Creation's  wide  domain 
Is  but  a  waste  of  beauty  spread  in  vain. 
To  be  the  fixture  of  this  large  estate 
Answers  not  man's  divinely  ordered  fate  : 
When  earth  began,  he  was  its  viceroy  made, 
And  so  shall  be,  until  the  earth  shall  fade  : 
For  man  were  lifted  these  high  azure  walls ; 
For  man  were  garnished  these  mosaic  halls  ; 
For  man  melodious  voices  here  are  heard  ; 
For  man  sprang  order  at  the  Maker's  word. 
Not  in  the  dusky  distance  meant  to  stand, 
Man  claims  the  foreground  from  the  painter's  hand, 
Not  Nature's  menial,  but  her  titled  guest, 
With  fadeless  orders  glancing  on  his  breast. 
'T  is  not  the  time  to  adore  the  varied  gleams 
Of  lakes  and  mounts,  of  stars  and  tidal  streams, 
When  living  souls  of  living  men  repine 
For  the  quick,  living  touch  of  fire  divine  ; 
Or  life  derived,  an  idol,  to  revere, 
When  that  life's  spring,  the  living  God,  is  near. 
The  subtile  law  of  space,  where'er  it  flows, 
Claims  not  to  be  the  Sovereignty,  but  shows 
Itself  the  mirrored  force,  the  shade  to  be, 
The  ethereal  minister  of  Deity. 
Hence  not  for  homage  has  erected  been 
This  vast  cathedral,  but  to  worship  in ; 


% 
30  THE   DECK   OE   THE   CKESCENT   CITY. 

The  rays  which  o'er  its  domes  and  altars  gleam 
Are  symbols,  not  the  soul,  of  Power  Supreme. 

May  the  new,  strenuous  world  and  cultured  old 

With  every  year  more  vigorously  hold 

Each  other,  firmly  hearty  hands  retain, 

Binding  around  the  voluntary  chain. 

Though  civil  bonds   roughly  sharp  swords   may 

sever, 

May  ties  of  loyal  mind  endure  for  ever, 
And  every  heart  with  joy  due  honors  pay 
To  England,  empress  of  our  mental  day, 
The  favorite  isle  of  all  that  billows  know, 
The  shining  lamp  where  nations  learn  to  glow, 
For  glorious  years,  as  she  hath  been,  to  be 
The  Mount  of  Light,  caged  in  the  northern  sea. 

But  many  noisy  teachers  of  Young  America, 
friends  of  Epicurus,  who,  were  he  now  alive, 
would  not  be  seen  reposing  in  the  shade,  from 
dawn  to  sunset,  listening  to  music,  and  fanned 
by  fragrant  airs,  but  rather,  seated  in  his  damask 
easy-chair,  in  a  spacious  and  elaborately  furnished 
hall,  would  gaze  throughout  the  day  on  lively, 
painted  plans  of  new  steamers,  of  clipper  ships,  and 
of  crystal  palaces; — these  teachers  who  carefully 


THE  DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  31 

. 

instruct  infants  in  the  chemical  mysteries  of  acids 
and  alkalies,  when  they  prefer  to  know  less  theo 
retically  of  sweets, — who  would  eagerly  turn  uni 
versities  into  schools  of  the  profits,  and  snatch  the 
sceptres  from  Homer  and  David,  to  melt  them  into 
current  coin,  —  who  think  that  a  nation  has  no 
more  need  of  a  literature,  than,  in  their  view,  the 
universe  has  of  a  God,  since  the  only  divinity  for 
whom  they  can  see  any  use  in  this  world  or  in  any 
other  is  one  who  can  inspire  men  with  the  desire 
and  the  way  to  gain  the  most  riches  in  the  shortest 
time  ;  —  these  teachers  would  persuade  Young 
America  that  the  architects  of  crystal  palaces 
above  called  forward  to  testify  to  the  value  of  the 
heart  of  man,  now  in  fearful  peril  of  forge tfulness, 
were  but  indolent  outlaws,  the  pests  of  the  state, 
worthy  of  no  honor  except  from  the  bewildered  vis 
ionaries  who  consider  them  as  the  true  milestones 
of  a  nation's  progress,  the  sighs  incarnate  of  the 
moving  ages,  and  who  point  to  crumbled  empires, 
which  have  in  such  persons  their  chief  titles  to 
remembrance  ;  since  the  great  modern  empire  be 
lieves  that  it  would  have  been  better  for  the  world 
had  they  never  been  born.  As  easily  might  the 
fruits  of  the  earth  be  ripened  under  the  cool  benig- 


32          THE   DECK   OF  THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

nitj  of  an  iceberg  as  large  as  the  sun,  and  in  its 
place,  as  the  immortal  fruits  of  song  grow  to  full, 
luxuriant  maturity  in  this  icy  air.  The  earth  must 
feel  airy  heat,  before  it  glows  with  beauty.  The 
muses  never  pitch  their  tents  on  frozen  seas. 

These  instructors  find  something  to  respect 
even  in  the  Middle  Ages,  —  the  search  for  the 
mysterious  power  to  turn  coarse  materials  to  gold. 
Recent  centuries  have  applied  the  secret ;  and,  in 
various  quarters  of  the  globe,  establishments  have 
been  provided  for  the  transmuting  process.  The 
men  whose  eyes  grew  dim  and  their  heads  bald, 
while  they  searched  every  nook  of  the  world  of 
science  for  the  precious  principle,  meant  less  to 
bend  it  to  worldly  uses  than  to  discover  a  mighty 
force  of  nature  ;  and  they  were  not  conscious 
that  the  agency  which  they  sought  with  weary 
pain  was  already  in  their  minds,  and  guided 
their  hands  ;  for  it  was  not  less  or  more  than 
Speculation,  which,  in  these  later  ages,  transferred 
from  ideal  provinces  to  the  field  of  life,  is  fast 
subduing  the  solid  globe  to  gold.  Human  hands, 
presses,  saws,  hammers,  wheels,  steam,  carbon 
ic  and  electric  fire,  gases,  light,  forests,  rivers, 
substances,  and  ethereal  properties  have  been 


THE   DECK    OF   THE   CRESCENT    CITY.  33 

changed  by  the  magical  fingers  of  this  speculation 
to  tangible  and  heavy  gold.  Most  of  the  cru 
cibles  are  coarse,  but  some  are  delicate  and  large 
enough  to  hold  life's  amenities,  courtesies,  and 
loves,  laws,  learning,  the  arts,  sciences,  philoso 
phies,  governments,  social  policies,  .the  hopes  of 
good  on  earth  and  heavenly  bliss,  —  and  these  di 
verse  things,  melted  by  the  hot  zeal  of  speculation, 
come  forth  a  translucent  stream  of  beautiful,  profit 
able  gold.  There  is  reason  to  think  that  Young 
America,  living  where  the  practice  of  this  alche 
my  is  most  assiduous,  pays  no  hearty  allegiance 
to  the  creed,  that  the  only  Deity  is  Mammon  and 
his  only  Prophet  gold,  and  but  waits,  until  his 
heart  shall  beat  more  freely,  until  the  eagle  that 
he  loves  to  see  shall  lend  the  fire  of  his  eye,  and 
until  his  arm  shall  knit  its  strength  together,  that 
he  may  put  forth  his  gathered  force,  which  ten 
thousand  engineries  shall  not  make  to  swerve,  and, 
shrinking  St.  George's  conquering  might  to  the 
feeble  quivering  of  an  infant's  arm,  to  grapple 
with  the  Dragon-Creed  ;  and  that,  having  struck 
down  his  beastly  shape,  he  may  trample  on  his 
sordid  neck,  until  the  howling  brute  shall  cast  up 
ward  unconscious,  dying  eyes,  while  shall  gush 

3 


34          THE  DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

forth  his  nauseous  blood,  and  the  earth  shall  drink 
in,  with  mingled  grief  and  joy,  the  loved  libation 
which  she  first  infused  with  life  into  the  monster's 
veins. 

Young  America  is  also  taught  to  deride,  as 
proofs  of  a  vain  and  dark  superstition,  those  move 
ments  in  the  Holy  Land,  the  chief  glory  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  which  have  not  been  shaded,  since, 
in  import  or  in  magnanimity,  however  greatly  in 
final  success,  by  any  conflicts  whatsoever,  and 
which,  by  nerving  the  spirit  of  resistance  which 
turns  defeats  to  victories,  may  have  ultimately 
spared,  not  only  Europe,  but  even  this  broad  con 
tinent,  from  the  conquering  march  of  the  Arabian 
Imposture.  Columbus  might  have  been  born  a 
Mohammedan.  But 

The  conflicts  in  the  Holy  Land, 
To  rescue  from  the  usurper's  hand 
The  sacred  Sepulchre,  may  then 
More  justly  valued  be  by  men, 
When  shall  an  aim  sublimer  break, 
Like  dawn,  and  Christendom  awake, 
Whence  Tiber,  doubly  classic,  flows, 
To  where  o'er  northern  Isis  glows 


THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.  35 

The  Cross,  and  e'en  to  Russia's  snows,  — 

When  these,  with  learned  Germany, 

And  Santiago's  earnest  cry, 

Greece,  with  ecclesiastic  fame, 

Decking  the  lustre  of  her  name, 

The  brawny  North,  chivalric  France, 

The  youthful  Western  Eagle's  glance, 

Each  Power  in  either  hemisphere 

That  holds  the  Christian  title  dear, 

As  guardians  shall  the  Faith  defend, 

And  wisely  zeal  and  purpose  blend, 

And  then  for  ever  shall  expel 

The  Crescent  of  the  Infidel, 

The  usurping  symbol  which  bestows 

Its  insult  where  blest  Siloah  flows, 

And  shall  to  Christian  rule  restore 

The  land,  where  poured  the  Cross  before 

Abroad  its  sacred  streams  of  light, 

To  guide  the  nations  through  the  night. 

May  brave  demands  of  Christian  men, 

Not  flashing  arms,  be  potent  then, 

And  victory  bless  a  still  Crusade 

Of  Christian  Truth  and  Christian  Aid. 

When  shall  be  gained  the  priceless  boon,  — 

May  Heavenly  Goodness  haste  it  soon !  — 


36          THE   DECK    OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

The  too  long  sundered  East  and  West, 

No  more  by  variance  hard  oppressed, 

Saint  Peter's  majesty  transformed 

By  holier  patterns,  nobly  warmed 

With  better  zeal,  and  thus  allied 

With  Saint  Sophia's  purified, 

If  not  by  fervent  scourge  of  cords, 

By  resolute,  unyielding  words, 

Saint  Paul's,  the  northern  star  and  tower, 

Granting  due  measure  of  her  power, 

The  great  divisions,  Wesleyan, 

Genevan,  with  the  Lutheran, 

All  Christendom,  renouncing  wrong 

And  errors  which  to  schism  belong, 

Shall  to  the  blessed  Triune  Name 

Mingle  in  joy  a  full  acclaim. 

Then  in  no  cities  secular, 

Not  in  the  halls  of  Constantine, 

Not  in  the  city  of  the  Czar, 

Not  Caesar's  lordly  Rome  within, 

Not  in  the  isle  of  Saxon  light, 

Not  in  the  land  of  Saxon  might, 

But  in  Jerusalem  alone, 

Shall  they  the  Holy  Faith  enthrone, 

That  from  Mount  Zion's  height  may  shine 


THE  DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT    CITY.          37 

Radiance  benignant,  full,  divine. 

While  shall  all  tongues  and  realms  obey 

The  sceptre  of  the  Church,  whose  sway 

The  central  sun  of  grace  shall  be, 

Till  Time  becomes  Eternity, 

Till  trembling  Nature's  strength  shall  fail, 

And  suns  and  stars  grow  faint  and  pale, 

Dying  to  gain  celestial  birth 

And  usher  in  New  Heavens  and  Earth. 

More  recent  Crusades  have  taken  place,  of 
which  the  New  World  has  been  the  stage,  to  pro 
cure  from  the  rocky  sepulchres  of  the  earth  the 
chief  foe  of  salvation,  a  mineral  more  precious 
than  the  "  price  of  blood  "  which  occasioned  the 
armed  pilgrimages  to  Palestine.  In  these  later 
movements  the  sons  of  Spain  have  been  pioneers, 
and  have  borne  the  chief  part.  The  prizes  of 
their  adventurous  valor  were  vast  regions,  rich  in 
gold  and  silver,  in  tropical  fruits,  in  the  splendors 
of  perennial  Spring,  in  atmospheres  of  luxurious 
mildness,  in  serenest  valleys  and  in  highest  moun 
tains,  in  islands  as  fair  as  the  fairest  visions  of  the 
fancy,  in  fertile  plains,  higher  than  many  lofty 
peaks  across  the  sea,  beneath  skies  as  blue  as  the 


88  THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

ocean,  in  bounteous  streams,  in  new  varieties  of 
grain,  in  forests  of  interwoven  growth  untouched 
by  the  hand  of  man  since  the  first  green  blade 
sprang  up  at  the  inspiring  breath  of  Heaven,  in 
pastures  where  flocks  need  no  shelter,  but  can 
graze  quietly  through  the  burning  hours  of  the  sun 
and  beneath  the  soft  effusion  of  the  stars,  in  birds 
of  so  various  and  brilliant  plumage,  that  one  might 
imagine  the  very  bow  of  promise  that  spans  the 
earth,  to  prove  the  blessedness  of  showers,  since 
their  fatal  day,  to  have  become  instinct  with  vocal 
life,  and  to  send  up,  with  fluttering  ecstasy  of 
hues  and  motions,  a  congregation  of  winged  har 
monies,  to  mingle  with  the  singing  orbs  above,  in 
the  resounding  chorus  of  creation.  These  estates 
of  beauty  and  of  profit,  the  discovery  and  improve 
ment  of  which  were  the  glory  of  Spain,  and  the 
chief  wonder  of  the  time,  have  since  passed  from 
the  hands  of  their  first  conquerors  into  the  hands  of 
victorious  revolters,  except  one,  the  last  insulated 
witness,  testifying  that  consuming  draughts  of  ava 
rice,  sweet  to  the  taste,  but  bitter  to  the  heart,  are 
the  surest  mode  of  suicide  for  nations.  Portions 
of  the  affluent  paradise  thus  eagerly  won  and  long 
retained,  have  come,  through  independence  and 


THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.  39 

defeat  in  a  war  of  neighbors,  into  the  power  of  a 
race  of  men,  who  seem  bent  to  fulfil  what  their 
emigrating  ancestors  lacked  of  the  lust  of  conquest, 
even  at  the  risk  of  being  impelled  by  motives  to 
which  their  fathers  would  have  applied  the  old  le 
gal  phrase,  the  instigation  of  the  Devil. 

If  eloquence  is  rightly  to  be  judged  by  its  ef 
fect,  it  is  worth  an  inquiry,  whether  in  the  records 
of  human  speech  can  be  found  an  instance  of  ora 
tory  more  effective  than  the  simple  announcement 
of  the  wealth  of  California  made  by  the  enthusias 
tic  Peter  the  Hermit,  who  inspired  the  last  Cru 
sade  to  the  paradise  of  gold,  which,  alluring  Span 
ish  adventure  across  oceans,  mountains,  the  rapids 
of  rivers,  and  burning  plains,  through  thick,  dark 
forests,  receded,  after  brief  glimpses,  from  eye. and 
hand,  until,  like  a  coquette,  wearied  with  ever  en 
couraging,  ever  denying  eager  suitors,  and  fear 
ful,  as  they  grew  less,  of  final  neglect,  yielded  at 
last  to  be  won  incidentally  in  no  direct  search  of 
the  prize.  That  personage  exemplified  Demosthe 
nic  action,  for  while  his  lips  proclaimed  abroad  the 
blessing  to  the  world,  his  busy  hands  showed  em 
phatically  forth  his  meaning,  while  he  procured  for 
himself  a  due  share  of  the  sacred  deposit.  With 


40  THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

these  lively,  significant  movements,  the  brains, 
hands,  and  feet  of  the  community  felt  a  vehement 
sympathy.  As  the  highest  sign  of  eloquence  is, 
that  men  think  and  talk  earnestly  of  the  ideas 
which  they  have  heard,  more  than  of  their  rhe 
torical  attire,  this  herald  bore  a  wonderful  likeness 
to  the  great  Athenian,  the  noblest  comment  on 
whose  skill  was  the  determination  to  march  against 
Philip.  This  crowded  steamer,  and  others  larger, 
prove  how  efficient  was  that  cry  of  joy,  when  vast 
numbers  of  listening  Americans  looked  into  each 
others'  faces,  and  shouted,  "  Let  us  go  for  the 
gold !  "  Thus  began  the  Crusade,  in  which  Dem 
ocratic  Sovereignties  alone  partake,  and  of  which 
the  secondary  results  will  very  greatly  outweigh 
the  best  special  success. 

This  migratory  current  is  shown  to  be  not  whol 
ly  mercenary  by  the  large  number  of  young  men 
whom  it  conveys  from  shore  to  shore.  Others,  in 
deed,  no  longer  young,  may  have  submitted  to 
the  tide  from  motives  the  most  upright  and  hon 
orable  ;  the  experiences  of  life  may  soften  as  well 
as  harden  the  heart,  and  the  selfish  coldness  seen 
in  a  score  of  years  may  melt  into  genial  kindness 
when  three  times  that  period  have  fled.  Never- 


THE   DECK    OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.          41 

theless,  in  the  code  of  poetical  justice  the  miserly 
blight  is  ever  imputed  rather  to  the  yellow  than  to 
the  ripening  grain.  Any  social  or  political  move 
ment  which  eminently  attracts  the  presence  of 
youth,  must  have  some  characteristic  really  noble, 
or  which  skilfully  counterfeits  nobleness.  Usually, 
it  is  not  until  gray  lines  begin  to  appear  upon  the 
head,  that  people  join  that  congregation  of  ardent 
worshippers,  who  pray  inwardly,  if  not  with  their 
lips,  for  the  coming  of  the  blessed  millennium, 
when  sentiment  and  magnanimity  shall  be  discard 
ed  as  outlaws  from  human  affairs,  and  when  the 
world  shall  be  given  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of 
Political  Economy,  that  demon  from  the  pit,  that 
would  gladly  tear  up,  as  pernicious  weeds,  every 
fragrant  charity  that  blooms  in  the  garden  of  life. 
Youth  has  many  qualities  of  note.  For  instance. 

Known  is  it  well,  that  castles  in  the  air 
Chiefly  are  built  by  youth,  and  are  a  kind 
Of  architecture  much  decried  as  vain 
By  blatant  dulness,  and  as  of  no  order, 
Except  it  be  disorder  ;  —  for  all  that, 
Castles  in  the  air  may  often  rightly  claim 
Abundant  honor,  when  the  hearty  will 


42          THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

Strives  earnestly  to  make  the  cloudy  forms 

Substantial  ones  on  earth  :  for  who  can  point 

To  any  firm,  enduring  monument 

Of  Art,  of  Power,  of  Good,  that  was  not  first 

Simply  a  tottering  castle  in  the  air  ? 

The  theory  of  the  renowned  La  Place, 

Whether  it  answer  the  true  mode  or  not 

Of  starry  mechanism,  figures  at  least 

How  airy  atoms  of  Invention  grow 

To  solid  spheres  of  Facts,  which,  set  on  high, 

Like  suns  beneficent,  illume  and  guide 

The  circling  ages.     On  full  many  a  spirit 

Have  rested,  like  vows  registered  in  heaven, 

The  duty  and  the  purpose  to  achieve 

Some  manly  thing  before  its  latest  breath. 

Observant  of  this  brave,  mastering  intent, 

In  still  abstracting  hours,  specks  of  design 

May  have  been  sown  in  fields  of  air  ; 

It  could  not  be  foreseen  at  first  what  shapes, 

In   time's  advance,   the   nebulous  germs    would 

take. 

Labor  and  thought,  those  faithful  artisans. 
Standing  in  stead  for  every  plan  of  men, 
May  have  concentrated  and  moulded  them 
To  revelations  of  new  continents, 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.          43 

Or  of  organic,  primal  laws,  deduced 
From  chaos  of  the  vast  unknown 
By  the  resolving  chaos  of  the  mind, 
Finding  at  length  consummate  order  most, 
In  its  constructive  self  and  worlds  without, 
Where  roughest,  dark  confusion  seemed  to  dwell, 
Or  to  decisive  victories  of  Truth 
O'er  Error's  legions,  or  of  Liberty 
O'er  hosts  of  tyrant's  hirelings,  —  to  Statues, 
Paintings  magnificent,  Temples  sublime 
Outliving  races  of  meek  worshippers,  — 
Or  to  Imperial  diadems  of  gold, 
Or  to  Pontifical  tiaras,  or 
Dramatic  constellations,  Epic  suns. 
How  drearily  the  world  would  on  have  rolled, 
Making  its  annual  journey,  and  how  like 
A  penance  would  the  life  of  man  have  been, 
Had  God  no  other  charioteers  e'er  given 
Than  imitative  men.     Visions  of  youth, 
Although  greatly  disdained  and  set  at  naught, 
Have  oft  exactly  been  fulfilled  ;  and  then 
The  merry  scorners  looked  more  grave,  and  sued 
Humbly  for  peace,  and  through  their  lives  thence 
forth 
Obeyed  the  bidding  of  the  theorists. 


44          THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

More  beneficial  to  their  day  and  race 
Have  the  derided  visionaries  been, 
Than  all  the  vapid  satirists  of  time, 
Who  laugh  at  building  castles  in  the  air, 
Which,  being  the  calling  on  which  others  turn, 
The  spring  of  action  and  the  guide  of  toil, 
Justly  may  busy  those  who  cannot  live 
To  serve  their  private  benefit  alone. 

To  shaping  airy  forms  of  future  plans 
The  hours  of  youth  are  not  confined.     The  gift 
On  youth  may  be  conferred,  no  quality 
Stolen  from  heaven,  the  true  Promethean  fire, 
Determined  toil,  which,  to  the  hardest  flints 
Turning  the  clods  of  earth,  can  strike  from  them 
And  the  hard  iron  of  the  strenuous  will 
Undying  sparks,  like  brothers  of  the  stars, 
Those  sparks  of  gorgeous  fire,  struck  by  the  hand 
Of  God  from  chaos,  to  give  light  to  men, 
And  show  the  true  divinity  of  toil. 
Toil  gives  to  rude  machines  both  eyes  and  hands, 
To  see  and  do  its  will,  ploughs  fields  of  space 
And  the  swift  ways  of  time  with  elements 
Obedient  to  the  yoke  ;  toil  interweaves 
Smooth  words  and  rough  in  golden  cloth  of  song, 


THE   DECK    OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.          45 

And  marshals  bricks  in  Pyramids  that  keep 

Boldly  their  ground,  on  the  chessboard 

Of  war  gains  earnest  victories,  gently 

From  the  earth  draws  harvests  up,  from  hands  of 

kings 

With  might  unanimous  Great  Charters  wrings, 
Turns  stony  quarries  into  gossamer, 
That,  lifted  high,  looks  e'en  too  frail  to  hold 
A  weary  bird,  yet  not  by  blasts  of  ages 
Blown  away.     Toil  freedom  wins  in  conflicts  hard, 
Then  on  the  freed  soil  builds  up  Commonwealths, 
The  walls  of  Error  batters  with  Truth's  wand, 
And  Christian  temples  rears  in  Pagan  lands. 
The  rod  of  labor  from  the  solid  rock 
Can  call  refreshing  deeds  to  strengthen  men. 
Such  is  the  miracle,  and  varied  more, 
Vouchsafed  to  toil,  man's  guardian  and  his  guide. 

Youth  is  life's  Eden,  where  young,  hovering  joys 
Flutter  with  golden  wings,  where  warbling  hopes 
Attune  the  spicy  air,  where  showered  dews 
Of  myriad  fancies  pearly  splendors  cast 
O'er  flowery  paths,  where  lucid  founts  of  thought 
Pour  glancing  rills  abroad,  where  arbors  throw 
A  frequent,  pleasing  shade,  where  sunny  vales 


46  THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

With  harvests  glow  of  present  sweet  delights, 
While  o'er  each  hill  the  entrancing  future  dawns. 
Oft  sudden  mists  arise  and  veil  the  sun, 
And  tears  attest  man's  heritage  begun. 
Amidst  the  abounding  beauty  lurks  the  foe, 
Who  can  soft  names  and  airs  serene  assume. 
Oft  is  some  Eve  the  root  of  evil,  or 
As  oft  the  fairest,  choicest  good  that  breathes. 
The  dwellers  here  long  for  the  hastening  hour, 
When  they  shall  leave  this  transient  Paradise  ; 
And,  when  it  comes,  with  joyous  steps  and  free 
They  run  to  reach  the  moving  crowd  before, 
Which  having  o'ertaken,  and  the  newness  gone, 
Panting  and  sad  they  strive  again  to  taste 
The  treasure  left  behind  unprized,  —  in  vain, 
Unless  the  hope  of  an  immortal  youth 
The  heart  shall  lift  above  its  sea  of  care, 
And  gardens  of  unfading  love  and  bliss 
Alluring  fragrance  breathe  throughout  the  air. 

In  early  years  quick,  startled  thoughts  arise 
At  every  rustling  noise  which  Nature  makes, 
As  on  her  sleepless  guard  she  walks  her  rounds. 
The  sun,  in  triumph  journeying  from  the  east, 
The  captive  Queen  of  Night,  secured  by  chains, 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  47 

Downcast  and  pacing  with  slow  feet  afar 
Behind  his  flaming  chariot,  the  band 
Of  subject  warriors  following  her  sad  steps, 
Attired  in  twinkling  robes,  hold  fast  the  sight 
Of  childhood,  wondering  whence  the  bright  ones 

came. 

The  changing  vesture  of  the  advancing  hours, 
From  the  soft,  rosy  richness  of  the  morn, 
To  the  proud,  jewelled  splendor  of  the  noon, 
Then  to  the  gold  brocade  of  sunset  time, 
To  twilight's  robes  of  matron  comeliness, 
To  night's  dark  velvet,  with  its  glistening  pearls, 
The  brilliant  singing-birds,  perfumes  of  flowers, 
The  flying  insects,  the  white,  falling  snow, 
The  bubbling  drops  of  rain,  the  jagged  lines 
Of  lightning,  the  besieging  thunder's  crash 
Against  the  sky's  dark  fortresses,  excite 
Mysterious  questions  which  the  child  solves  not. 
The  shade  of  grief,  a  bitter  glance  or  frown, 
An  infant's  face,  answering  each  loving  smile, 
Tears,  voices,  looks,  the  name  of  Deity, 
The  wrayside  incidents  of  life,  awake 
Early  reflection,  but  the  after  strife 
Stifles  the  powers  reflective  in  the  most, 
Until  the  inexorable  usher  comes, 


48          THE   DECK   OF  THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

And,  calling  out  each  name  in  turn,  opens 
The  sombre  portals  of  the  boundless  halls, 
Where  souls  must  enter  in  with  bending  awe, 
And  think  for  ever. 

Youth  may  be  borne  o'er  seas 
Where  harpies  of  the  mad,  vindictive  winds 
Excite  the  waves  to  foaming  rage, 
To  lands  where  trampling  crowds  toil  and  make 

merry 

O'er  graves  of  Empires.     Beneath  arches  high 
Of  the  great  edifice  which  Time  has  built 
To  keep  his  treasures  from  oblivion's  air 
A  little  while,  youth  to  the  tones 
Which  that  swift  architect,  touching  the  keys 
Of  History's  organ  with  his  fingers  cold, 
Brings  to  the  ears  of  men,  listens  attent. 
Ever  and  variously  those  notes  resound. 
Now  are  they  chants  of  worship,  wailings  now 
O'er  ravages  of  famine,  plague,  or  war, 
And  now  the  clangor  loud,  that  calls  pale  cheeks 
To  battle,  to  be  flushed  with  angry  zeal 
In  the  thick  fight,  exultant  strains  of  peace, 
The  song  of  triumph  o'er  defeated  foes, 
Sweet  pastoral  melodies  on  mountain-sides, 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT    CITY.  49 

The  sighs  of  trampled  men  beneath  the  strides 
Of  hard  Ambition's  unrelenting  march  ; 
The  martyr's  faithful  and  triumphant  song 
In  flames  that  kiss,  like  Judas,  to  destroy ; 
Voices  of  men  turned  frantic  fiends  to  hurl 
The  globe's  best  works  to  ruin ;  laughing  scorn 
At  a  weak  nation's  lowly  plea  for  right ; 
Outrage  of  subjects  'gainst  a  tyrant's  crime ; 
A  people's  thanks  to  a  deliverer  given ; 
Freedom's  glad  symphonies,  that  softly  breathe 
Contentment,  peace,  allegiance  to  good  laws, 
Valor  in  causes  just,  and  hope  in  God. 

O'er  ridges  of  the  past,  youth  looks  on  ranks 
Of  shadowy  kings,  on  gorgeous  capitals 
Forsaken,  upon  realms  once  full  of  men, 
Where  beasts  now  stalk  o'er  broken  palaces  ; 
On  armies  great  to  battle's  clarion  deaf, 
To  start  from  their  still  camps  alone  when  called 
To  gather  on  a  field  where  more  than  crowns 
And  kingdoms  are  at  stake,  —  their  once  bright 

swords 

Now  black  with  rust,  and  engineries  decayed, 
And  the  arms  that  wielded  them  retreated  now 
Into  strongholds  of  frail  and  feeble  dust ; 


50  THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

On  towers  that  challenged  time's  assault,  and  fell. 

Unequal  to  the  persevering  fight ; 

On  shrines  to  idols,  built  by  people  false 

To  truth  and  law,  and  holy  temples  too, 

Whose  roofs  of  gold  dazzled  the  sun,  prostrate 

By  power  retributive  for  daily  guilt ; 

On  sages  who  would  solve  life's  mysteries, 

Gone,  with  their  systems,  to  solve  death  itself; 

On  mounts,  where  the  ancient  deities  no  more 

In  council  meet ;  on  sciences  displaced 

By  waves  of  further  knowledge  ;  upon  robes 

Of  fashion,  with  their  wearers,  laid  aside ; 

On    hopes    fulfilled,   and,    with    their   fruitage, 

wrecked, 
And  ghosts  of  fears,  that  worked  their  ill  and 

died; 

On  states  crumbled  by  busy  minutes,  ants 
That  help  and   break  man's  firmest  structures 

here. 

And  now  a  sun  uprising  showers  such  beams, 
That  startled  youth  looks  up  and  sees  the  heights 
Of  future  time  crowned  with  the  radiance  new ; 
Past  ills  to  glorious  blessings  there  give  way, 
To  be,  perchance,  such  curses,  in  their  turn, 


THE   BECK  OF  THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  51 

As  have  distracted  men  ;  the  paths  of  life, 

O'er  emerald  slopes,  like  threads  of  silver,  wind, 

With  a  rich  garniture  of  roses  lined,  — 

The  blended  hues  seem  conscious  of  delight,  — 

Yet  may  the  paths  be  found,  on  trial,  rough, 

The  colored  rays  but  painted  on  the  air ; 

Each  cliff  is  burnished  with  a  golden  light ; 

Peace,  plenty,  brotherhood,  life's  graces,  there 

Live  blest  and  blessing  ;  there  no  despots  rule  ;• 

Nations  sustain  each  other  in  the  right ; 

No  reigns  of  Terror  charity  affright, 

No  reigns  of  Indolence  have  ushered  them, 

For  royal  sluggishness  a  crime  may  be, 

So  expiated  that  e'en  Time  severe 

Might  stay  his  flight  to  drop  a  pitying  tear  ;  — 

No  armies  of  their  captains  emperors  make, 

Good-will  to  men  is  owned  the  rule  supreme. 

Youth  counts  on  living  such  good  days  to  see, 
Which,   when   they   seem   in    beauty    to    have 

dawned, 

Sadden  the  heart,  so  soon  upon  the  sight 
Delusion  spreads  the  shadows  of  her  night ; 
The  golden  light  is  seen  but  shining  mist ; 
Foul  wrong  is  robed  in  liberty's  attire ;    i 


52  THE   DECK   OF  THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

And  kings  rule  roughly,  though  without  the  name ; 

Brothers,  in  sport,  are  equal  brothers  called  ; 

Nations  aid  nations,  mainly  to  secure 

The  largest  portion  of  the  common  gain ; 

While  policies,  not  principles,  prevail, 

And  right  and  duty  have  no  friends  at  court ; 

The  progress  hoped  and  toiled  for  is  not  made, 

A  few  short  steps,  but  not  the  journey  sought ;  — 

Actions  defeated  by  reactions,  till 

From  agonies  and  struggles  hard  result 

A  few  small  scales  of  gold  from  heaps  of  ore, 

A  few  small  pearls  by  myriad  divers  won, 

A  few  small  spots  of  green  in  deserts  great, 

A  cup  of  water  after  seas  of  blood. 

But  inch  by  inch,  most  wearily,  toils  on 

Humanity  to  reach  her  final  crown. 

In  mounts,  the  veterans  of  the  tempests'  wars, 
Youth  sees  earth's  noblest  majesty  portrayed, 
And  in  the  voices  of  the  cataract, 
And  of  the  white,  ungovernable  sea, 
Hears  nature's  deepest  music,  while  is  felt 
The  breathing  of  strange  presences  in  groves. 
Thus  musing  on  the  verge  that  nature  keeps 
Of  high,  unknown  infinity,  youth  walks, 


THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.  53 

As  with  the  attendance  of  a  guardian  spirit, 
Among  the  monuments  of  human  power, 
Deriving  deeper  wisdom  from  the  search 
Of  works  of  man  by  light  from  works  of  God, 
And  deeper  wisdom  still  from  lamps  divine 
At  holy  altars  lit. 

Attended  thus, 

Youth  ponders  on  the  famed  historic  plains, 
Where  dynasties  played  their  last  stakes  for  life, 
And  bold  Ambition  for  one  victory  more, 
But  lost  the  sceptre  which  it  owned  before. 
In  stars  for  ever  beautiful  and  young 
Youth  sees  its  perpetuity  set  forth  ; 
Youth  fears  instinctively  the  lonely  dark,  — 
Not  what  it  knows  of  causes  makes  it  bold. 
Youth  notes  the  kinds  and  qualities  of  men 
In  tones,  in  looks,  in  acts,  in  choice  of  words  ; 
From  fields  of  nature  and  of  life  youth  reaps 
Full  sheaves  of  observation,  to  supply 
The  granaries  of  age  with  memory's  food; 
The  hare  youth  captures  for  the  feast  of  age. 
Imaginations,  loves,  sorrows,  delights, 
Aims,    efforts,    blessings,    music,    laughs    with 

friends, 
Precious,  inspiring  words  from  lips  revered, 


54          THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

The  hopes  of  worlds  where  snows  ne'er  chill  the 

year,  — 
Youth  keeps  these  all  to  exalt  the  heart,  when 

falls 

No  more  the  dew  of  fresh  and  early  joy. 
The  liveliness  of  youth  by  chance  infused 
Into  old  messes  of  conservatism, 
Seething  o'er  furnaces  made  fiery  hot 
By  the  fierce  breath  of  men,  is  quick  to  make 
Its    presence    felt.      Sometimes    youth,    restive 

grown, 

Tears  up  old  governments,  old  boots  in  which 
Nations  have  walked  until  their  feet  are  sore, 
Old  documents,  full  of  dead  letters,  or 
Of  what  should  be,  and  leaves  the  broken  pieces 
For  careful  age  to  make  up  o'er  again, 
If  so  it  can,  or  if  it  fail,  then  youth 
Supplies  materials  good  for  structures  new ; 
Or  youth  may  put  its  vigor  forth  to  hold 
The  trembling  columns  of  the  state  upright, 
Which  else  might  fall  disastrously,  and  be 
In  ruins  anarchy  or  tyranny. 

The  young  men  on  deck,  though  ready  to  de 
fend  their  country,  or  to  fulfil  her  aggressive  des- 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  55 

tiny  on  the  fields,  forts,  or  wooden  walls  of  war, 
have  now  less  directly  in  view  to  overturn  or 
to  strengthen  commonwealths,  than  to  advance 
each  his  individual  good.  Since  benefits  un 
consciously  conferred  are  often  the  greatest,  pri 
vate  success  may  aid  the  State  as  much  as 
the  most  intentional  patriotism.  The  wish  to 
die  for  one's  country,  boldly  expressed  before 
the  trumpet  sounds  for  battle,  may  be  less  effi 
cient  than  a  quiet  patriotism  that  thinks  it  possi 
ble  to  love  one's  country,  without  making  a  spas 
modic  fuss  about  it  at  all  times  ;  and,  since  the 
action  of  the  government  cannot  always  excuse  a 
want  of  personal  thrift  and  attention,  if  the  chim 
ney  of  the  kitchen  takes  fire,  an  unrepaired  de 
fect  in  that  vehicle  of  smoke  and  supererogatory 
flame  may  be  as  likely  to  be  the  cause  of  the 
trouble  as  an  Act  of  Congress. 

Hard  as  it  would  be  to  define  the  diversity  of 
motives  contained  in  the  general  design  to  advance 
personal  fortune,  it  is  true  that  some  of  those  on 
deck  have  been  allured,  by  the  fascination  of  Cali- 
fornian  wealth,  from  places  which,  tried  by  the  new, 
golden  standard  of  prosperity,  appeared  to  be  of 
slow  and  meagre  profit,  in  the  hope  to  occupy  their 


56          THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

energy  in  wider  fields  and  those  more  quickly  and 
plentifully  fertile,  to  be  found  either  in  the  min 
eral  districts  or  in  the  commercial  wants  of  the 
new  population  ;  while  others,  having  striven  in 
vain,  though  long  and  earnestly,  for  posts  of  duty 
answering  to  their  eagerness  and  strength,  and 
wearied  by  the  fretting  chains  of  vigor  impatient  for 
due  and  appropriate  exertion,  resolve  to  enter  the 
lists  of  competing  toil  in  the  new  settlement,  which, 
like  the  new  election  of  a  President,  is  regarded 
with  prophetic  joy,  as  affording  lucrative  niches 
for  the  winning  side.  In  the  history  of  others, 
reasonable  hopes  have  been  darkened  and  chilled 
by  frequent  and  full  eclipses  ;  and  in  the  chalice 
of  disappointment,  ever  pressing  upon  the  lips, 
were  mingled  the  bitterness  of  the  past,  the  cold 
ness  of  the  present,  and  the  blackness  of  the  future ; 
but  at  length,  even  in  their  disconsolate  ears,  the 
enlivening  angel  of  resolution  whispered  the  mak 
ing  of  one  trial  more  to  launch  their  hitherto  dis 
heartened  labors  on  a  brighter  sea.  Some,  for 
the  strangeness  and  excitement  mainly,  have  re 
nounced  for  a  while  the  ceremonial  law  of  fashion, 
and  the  inane  or  even  the  real  urbanities  of  the 
drawing-room,  or  the  splendid  or  ludicrous  attire  of 


THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.  57 

the  masquerade,  for  the  less  dainty  and  more  home 
ly  manners  of  the  "mines.  Thus,  even  delegates 
from  the  upper  ten  thousand  (for  the  lucky  phrase 
has  become  a  part  of  the  people's  English)  of  the 
metropolis  are  ready  to  doff  their  white  kids,  and 
to  press  on  with  the  crowding  million  in  the  race 
for  gold.  Others,  who  have  never  disguised  their 
humanity  in  fantastic  robes,  ransacking  the  past 
for  the  strangest  dresses,  who  have  led  gay  feet 
around  in  the  merry  movements  only  of  the  ru 
ral  dance,  may  have  come  hither  with  as  warm 
and  genial  hearts  as  any  that  have  beaten  proud 
ly  beneath  the  feigned  vesture  of  real  purple  and 
gold.  In  the  case  of  others,  the  tendrils  of  exer 
tion  may  have  begun  to  fade  and  droop  in  the 
shade  of  uncongenial  labor,  and  to  give  them  sun 
shine  and  a  freer  air,  that  they  may  grow  to  lib 
eral  strength  and  graceful  manliness,  may  have 
inspired  departure.  Sentiment,  also,  roughly 
cased  it  may  be,  but  beautiful  as  the  soft  and 
winning  decoration  of  Spring,  may  have  imbathed 
the  soul  with  its  fragrance,  until  from  the  warm 
suffusion  may  have  grown  the  aspiration  soon  to 
fulfil  hopes  of  tender  joy,  that  the  days,  crowned 
with  garlands  of  united  love  and  duty,  may  pass 


58          THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

hand  in  hand  along  the  great  highway,  where 
every  step  advances,  or  that  aged  feet  may  have 
a  stronger  staff,  and  the  hoary  head  a  richer  bless 
ing.  Others,  having  aims  held  in  little  honor  in 
their  native  land,  but  of  highest  praise  in  older 
nations,  who  have  found  the  avenues  to  the  light 
which  they  desire  barred  against  them  by  sight 
less  ignorance  or  by  sharp-eyed  enmity,  hardly 
conscious,  with  every  effort,  of  making  other  prog 
ress  than  that  towards  the  grave,  which  needs  no 
special  pains,  and,  perhaps,  having  passed  the  age 
when  men  before  have  gained  concession  of  their 
right,  consuming  their  hearts  in  hours  of  reflec 
tive  agony,  care  not  to  what  part  of  their  vast 
house  of  bondage  they  may  go,  whether  to  the 
frozen  poles  or  to  the  flowery  tropics,  since  even 
little  Denmark,  narrow  and  dark  a  prison  as  it 
may  have  seemed,  looks  to  their  view  like  the 
broad,  free  palace  of  inspiring  day,  compared  to 
the  sullen  dungeon  which  for  them  lengthens  in 
solid  gloom  between  the  ridges  of  eternal,  azure 
ice,  that  glare  and  crash  in  the  stiff  solitudes  of 
Arctic  Circles. 

Some  of  the  passengers,  older  as  well  as  young 
er,  have  counted  the  cost  of  the  undertaking,  as 


THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.          59 

well  as  common  report  and  the  experiences  of 
others  have  enabled  them  to  do ;  and,  having 
weighed  the  exposures  of  health  and  life,  the  chan 
ces  and  results  of  failure,  with  the  comforts  and 
conveniences  of  success,  they  show  by  their  pres 
ence  here  the  turning  of  the  scales.  Others, 
overwhelmed  by  disaster  in  affairs,  are  eager 
to  make  amends  with  fortune,  where  the  dis 
piriting  pressure  of  the  past  shall  not  smother 
each  timid  purpose  and  reviving  struggle.  The 
downcast  eye  looks  up,  and  sees  better  visions ; 
the  heart  beats  more  freely  and  lightly  ;  the  foot  is 
more  conscious  of  its  right  to  press  manfully  the 
earth ;  the  breast  forbears  the  weary  sighs  of  re 
pining,  and  heaves  with  renovating  and  expanding 
aims. 

As,  often,  the  spring  of  bravery,  long  and  far 
renowned,  is  manly  sorrow,  mourning  over  thwart 
ed  hopes  and  fleeing  from  the  foe  that  mines  busily 
at  the  heart,  to  stand  unterrified  before  the  open 
storm  of  war,  —  some  may  also  press  to  a  land  of 
nearly  insane  activity,  that  not  instill,  cold  waters, 
but  rather  in  the  fiery  ardor,  of  oblivion,  may  be 
lost  the  unspoken  woe,  which  arms  the  memory 
with  swords,  and  makes  reflection  madness. 


60          THE   DECK    OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

Others  have  not  been  allured  by  vivid  fancies 
of  easy  and  sudden  gains,  but,  daily  tortured  by 
the  craving  instances  of  those  who  vowed  to  be 
theirs  "  for  richer,  for  poorer,"  they  have  forsak 
en  homes  which  affliction,  instead  of  wealth,  may 
visit,  while  sordid  wishes  may  yield  too  late  to 
unavailing  grief.  Others,  on  the  other  hand,  have 
set  at  naught  dissuasive  tears,  tender  remonstran 
ces,  the  sunshine  of  true  hearts,  the  dew  of  vows 
sincerely  spoken  and  believed,  present  happiness, 
and  worthy  hopes,  being  resolved,  against  entrea 
ties  or  distresses  of  others,  or  their  own,  to  search 
the  rocks  and  sands,  not  fertile  in  affection,  how 
rich  soever  in  gold.  Others,  moved  by  the  thor 
ough  presence  of  love,  obeying  what  sounds  to 
them  as  the  peremptory  voice  of  duty,  forsake  the 
kind  contentments  of  good  and  happy,  though 
narrowly  provided  homes,  with  the  firm  intent  to 
act,  in  every  place,  incident,  and  hour,  with  that 
most  blessed  combination,  defiant  energy  informed 
by  sacred  tenderness. 

There  is  one,  whose  waning  years  are  marked 
by  his  gray  head,  dim,  ghostly  eyes,  and  nervous 
tremor.  Not  arrayed  in  heavy  armor,  and  with 
glittering  lance,  to  meet  his  adversary  at  the  tour- 


THE   DECK   OF  THE    CRESCENT    CITY.  61 

nament,  or  his  stern  foe  in  battle,  he  is  still  a 
knight,  but  of  Mammon's  Court,  worn  in  long, 
hard  wars  for  pelf,  and  now  going  forth  to  put  his 
sordid  chivalry  to  proof  in  contending  with  the 
dust  of  earth  for  its  small,  shining  particles.  The 
alchemy  of  avarice  has  changed  each  motion  of 
his  soul  into  a  thirst  for  gain  ;  and  his  perceptions, 
thus  transformed,  have  made  the  very  elements  of 
nature  to  express  his  longing.  Fire,  the  nurse  of 
harvests  in  the  dark  chambers  of  their  silent 
growth,  but  signifies  the  life  and  power  of  his  vul 
gar  ardor  ;  Earth,  as  radiant  with  celestial  beauty 
as  the  stars,  to  him  who  sees  it  with  illumined 
eyes,  betokens  his  unspiritual  aim  ;  Water,  which 
makes  the  pastures  green,  and  fields  of  tillage  fer 
tile, —  that  hangs  brooks,  shining  like  silver  chains, 
upon  the  brows  of  mountains,  and  encircles  the 
world  with  oceans  and  with  arches  of  every  hue, — 
is  to  him  naught  but  the  swift  conveyer  of  deeply- 
laden  ships ;  the  wide,  translucent  Air,  that  images 
Supernal  Providence,  beneficently  present  every 
where,  denotes  alone  his  craving  spirit,  that  would 
tightly  grasp  and  sternly  hold  the  globe.  No 
tender  thoughts,  hopes,  aims,  experiences,  impara- 
dise  his  heart.  His  leaden  soul  never  ascends  on 


62          THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

the  wings  of  thankful  song,  or  on  the  ladder  of  de 
votion,  to  the  Holy  Throne.  No  subtile  or  expan 
sive  science  brings  to  him  sublime  delight,  save 
that  he  deigns  to  think  it  crowns  the  inventive 
wit  of  man  to  have  tamed  the  fiery  lightning  to 
convey,  with  his  swift,  glancing  traces,  the  rise 
and  fall  of  prices.  With  fearful  meaning,  Nature 
is  to  him  "  a  universal  blank." 

Not  only  rests  a  nightly  shade  on  noblest  hopes, 
which  should  be  his,  but  the  unholy  spell  upon  his 
spirit  is  retrospective,  and  takes  away  from  lovely 
memories  their  native  beauty.  The  sportive 
shout,  that  made  the  very  air  playful  with  waving 
music,  sounds  in  his  recollecting  ear  like  a  shrill 
cry  for  gold  !  gold  !  The  generous  run,  that  sent 
the  merry,  winged  blood  flying  through  every  vein, 
is  changed  into  a  scramble  for  unworthy  pelf. 
Letters  in  the  books  of  knowledge,  losing  their 
fair  meaning,  spell  and  decipher  money.  Early 
affections  are  enshrouded  and  invisible.  The  mem 
ory  of  youth,  the  sanctuary  of  the  heart's  ameni 
ties,  whither,  weary  and  worn  in  the  dusty,  besieg 
ing  world,  they  repair  awhile  for  a  refreshing  ref 
uge,  has  yielded  to  the  assault  of  the  ruling  passion 
of  his  after  years,  which,  pressing  rudely  in,  makes 


THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.  63 

the  altar  a  sacrilegious  throne  ;  and  the  soul 
thence  gains  no  serenity  for  her  upward  flight, 
but  a  new  incitement  only  to  a  low,  ignoble 
race. 

His  thoughts,  occupied  so  long  upon  the  mean 
est  purposes  of  life,  should  be  briefly  spent,  at 
least,  upon  the  possibility  of  holy  dying ;  but,  in 
stead,  they  are  sent,  convoyed  by  troops  of  fancies, 
to  the  far,  crowded  mines,  and  their  united  speed 
no  figure  can  depict.  He  is  jealous  of  those 
who  have  preceded  him  in  the  way,  lest  their 
gains  should  be  his  losses  ;  and  he  regards  every 
face  with  rigor,  as  that  of  a  designing  rival.  Be 
guiling  phantoms  haunt  the  hours  of  this  bright 
day,  and  whisper,  glare,  and  glide  about  him,  hold 
ing  his  senses  dizzied  by  their  flashing,  mazy,  chat 
tering  spells ;  and  then  they  fly,  leaving  him  imbe 
cile  and  weak,  as  he  who  survives  the  convulsive 
touch  of  the  lightning  may  awake  and  start  up 
a  vacant  idiot.  But  this  effect  is  transient,  for 
again  he  sees  outlines  impalpable  of  golden  wedg 
es,  bars,  and  dust,  thronging  the  dazzled  air,  and 
now  his  hungry  hands  move  every  way  to  seize 
them ;  but  they,  elusive,  change  to  millions  of  an 
gry  eyes,  bent  full  on  him ;  his  hands  shrink  back 


64         THE   DECK    OF   THE    CRESCENT    CITY. 

appalled,  and  he  leans  upon  the  side  of  the  ship, 
faint  with  his  sudden  and  exhausting  dream  in 
open  day. 

Some,  whose  days  of  misfortune  have  been 
embittered  by  reproaches,  instead  of  being  soothed 
by  the  allowances  of  tenderness,  humbly  submis* 
sive  to  the  will  of  God,  yet  manly  rebels  against 
the  scornful,  crushing  will  of  man,  resolve  to  ex 
haust  their  energies  in  unfamiliar  places,  and  to 
escape  in  busy,  unobserving  crowds  the  weight  of 
bitter  glances  and  upbraiding  words. 

There  is  the  gamester,  who  flies,  like  the  hawk, 
from  land  to  land,  from  river  to  river,  from  ocean 
to  ocean,  whithersoever  he  perceives  his  prey  to 
go.  Standing  slyly  apart,  he  casts  his  sneering, 
icy  eye  about,  as  if  selecting  those  from  whom, 
in  hours  of  their  reckless  risk,  he  may  gain  by 
infernal  artifice  the  fruits  of  long  and  arduous  toil. 
The  chords  of  his  heart,  which  may  once  have 
quivered  with  natural  kindness,  have  become  one 
congelation  of  apathy  ;  for,  as  it  has  been  recalled 
to  the  world's  mind,  what  is  very  apt  to  be  for 
gotten,  that  the  criminal  convict  in  his  cell,  whom 
society  abhors,  was,  years  before,  a  smiling,  prat 
tling  infant,  so  the  professional  gambler,  the  Ish- 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  65 

maelite  of  civilization,  whose  hand  is  against  that 
of  every  man  who  will  engage  with  him,  may,  in 
rosy  boyhood,  have  trundled  his  hoop,  read  Robin 
son  Crusoe,  and  said  his  prayers,  like  good  children 
generally. 

The  fair  name  of  enterprise  cannot  sanctify  the 
mere  lust  of  gold,  yet,  beside  the  field  of  usual 
avocations  opened  in  every  newly  planted  state, 
the  direct  search  for  the  precious  metals  may  be 
made  as  honorable  as  any  form  of  mediate  negotia 
tion  between  the  mine  and  the  coffer.  Whether 
or  not  any  way  of  wealth  be  manly  or  miserly,  de 
pends  less  upon  the  wray  than  upon  the  man  who 
has  chosen  and  pursues  it.  A  justly  meaning 
man  is  chiefly  requisite  to  make  any  calling  just. 
Men  grown  opulent  from  plethoric  usury  may 
shake  their  heads,  and  talk  like  philosophers  about 
the  regular  paths  of  industry,  when  their  poorer 
neighbors,  whose  competence  may  have  gone  to  fill 
their  chests,  talk  of  visiting  the  mines  ;  but  posi 
tive  laws,  in  some  of  the  States,  declare,  with  the 
heavy  emphasis  of  pains  and  penalties,  the  way  of 
wealth  pursued  by  such  advisers  to  be  of  a  very 
irregular  kind.  When,  also,  divines,  in  churches 
of  hewn  stone  made  gossamer,  and  full  of  the  col- 


66  THE  DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

ored  splendor  of  the  light,  denounce  to  their  rose 
ate  audiences  the  Californian  rage,  the  question 
might  sometimes  be  pertinently  put  to  the  rever 
end  oracles,  crowned  with  prismatic  diadems, 
whether  rich  fortunes  matrimonial  are  among  the 
graceful  means  of  wealth,  which  justify  a  haughty 
severity  of  censure  on  God's  hosts  of  striving 
poor,  outside  high  Gothic  walls.  Much  of  the 
dissuasion  may  be  most  proper  and  timely,  but  it 
should  not  be  spoken  by  such  ones  with  arrogance 
and  thoughtlessness. 

Some  daintily  refined  people  regard  a  poor  man 
as  having  the  same  relation  to  humanity  which  a 
poor  picture  has  to  a  gallery  of  the  Fine  Arts.  Of 
the  tortures,  agonies,  and  temptations  belonging  to 
the  want  of  riches,  they  have  little  thought,  and 
they  look  upon  poverty,  not  as  being  distressing 
and  disheartening,  but  simply  as  being  ungraceful 
and  inelegant.  They  wonder  how  any  man  or 
woman  can  show  such  a  want  of  good  taste  as  to 
be  poor.  In  respect  of  the  knowledge  of  life, 
they  are  of  like  mind  with  the  royal  lady  of 
France,  who  advised  giving  the  cake  to  the  French 
people,  when  they  were  famishing  and  crying  for 
bread.  If  the  ills  and  needs  of  life  be  spoken  of 


THE  DECK  OF  THE   CRESCENT   CITY.          67 

in  their  hearing,  they  will  allow  them  to  be  very 
sad,  though  thinking  hardly  of  the  thoughtless  per 
sons  who  have  no  more  manners  than  to  annoy 
their  nerves  with  such  things.  Still,  they  have 
the  languid  charity  to  think  that  every  person  in 
misfortune  has  surely  a  reserved  aid  somewhere, 
in  the  cake-box  or  in  the  bank;  for  they  cannot 
imagine  any  person  to  be  so  completely  broken  on 
the  wheel  of  fortune  as  not  to  have  a  small  annui 
ty  left.  At  the  mention  of  the  Californiari  emi 
gration,  such  people,  of  course,  sneer  audibly,  but 
not  so  heartily  as  to  disarrange  the  precision  of 
their  facial  lines  ;  and  thenceforth  they  discard  the 
subject  as  being  quite  too  low  and  democratic  to 
divide  their  serious  thoughts  with  the  last  import 
ed  mode  of  social  manners  or  with  the  next  new 
opera. 

Happily  for  the  exemplification  of  these  royal 
ideas,  there  was  detected,  not  long  ago,  in  a  dark, 
dusty  corner  of  the  great  Western  closet  of  the 
world,  a  gigantic  box  of  cake,  which  had  been 
locked  up  there  for  many  ages.  As  soon  as  the 
discovery  was  made  and  known,  multitudes  of  peo 
ple,  desiring  a  change  of  diet,  without  consulting 
monarchs,  presidents,  or  lovers  of  the  beautiful, 


68          THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

obeyed  at  once  their  sovereign  impulses,  and 
crowded  away  in  immense  steamers  like  this,  in 
ships  of  all  sizes,  and  almost  in  little  boats  with 
shingles  for  rudders  and  handkerchiefs  for  sails,  to 
reach  the  prize  and  help  themselves  to  slices,  be 
having  in  that  action  as  moderately  as  their  eager 
ness  and  the  variety  of  their  dispositions  allowed, 
though  rather  angry,  once  or  twice,  with  some 
covetous  foreigners,  who,  not  content  with  waiting 
for  a  cake-box  of  their  own,  dipped  their  greedy 
fingers  into  their  mess. 

There  are  no  relics  in  California  of  the  Old 
Painters  or  of  the  Old  Saints,  perhaps  not  many 
new  representatives  of  either  class.  California 
has  no  Rhines,  Arnos,  Tibers,  so  needful  for  gen 
tlemen  of  taste,  no  Alhambras,  Vaticans,  or  Pyra 
mids.  The  Coliseum,  with  an  awning  spread  over 
the  top  of  its  encircling  wall,  would  make  a  spa 
cious  inn,  and  a  lucrative  one,  were  its  host  to  be 
some  renowned  projector  of  wonders  in  the  realms 
of  Art  and  Nature  ;  but  that  is  not  there,  and 
nothing  looks  like  it  there  ;  and  no  Archimedes 
can  be  found,  to  devise  the  conveyance  of  the 
structure  over  two  oceans  and  a  sea,  and  around 
Cape  Horn,  where  such  a  Leviathan  of  sinking  sub- 


THE  DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.          69 

stance  might  easily  founder  in  a  storm  ;  nor  would 
the  famous  Mr  Paxton  undertake  to  transport  the 
bulk  which,  had  it  been  made  of  glass,  would  have 
been  shivered  by  the  arrows  of  the  Vandals,  even 
though  the  state,  grateful  for  the  increase  of  its 
lodging  resources,  should  confer  upon  him,  beside  a 
solid  reward,  the  rights  and  honors  of  the  Ameri 
can  order  of  the  flashing  spread  eagle  of  sunset ; 
a  token  of  approval  more  strange,  if  less  to  be 
prized,  than  the  surname  of  knighthood,  destined 
to  be  his,  and  which  would  be  worthily  bestowed, 
but  more  gracefully,  if,  at  the  same  time,  another 
Englishman  should  receive  such  appreciation,  —  a 
man  to  whom  England  and  the  world  are  more  in 
debted  than  they  could  be  for  a  hundred  Crystal 
Palaces,  whether,  like  this  one,  of  glass  that  breaks, 
or,  like  the  Russian  one  of  which  Cowper  sings,  of 
ice  that  melts,  —  a  man  as  beneficial  certainly  as 
a  minister  of  the  crown,  and  whose  writings  are  a 
Crystal  Palace,  where  the  sunlight  of  manly  senti 
ment  and  of  playful  fancy  gleams  through  periods 
more  clear  and  beautiful  than  plates  of  glass,  and 
brightened  by  the  moisture  of  pathetic  dew.  Com 
mendable  and  great  as  is  the  skill  shown  in  contriv 
ing  so  vast  and  light  an  edifice,  to  be  so  various- 


70          THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

Ij  filled,  yet,  when  this  New  Curiosity  Shop  shall 
nearly  have  faded  from  the  memory  of  men,  eager 
eyes  will  continue  to  throng  the  Old  Curiosity  Shop, 
to  pay  their  glistening  tributes  at  the  saintly  shrine 
of  early  sorrow  in  its  early  grave.  This,  however, 
is  an  Age  of  Light,  when  great  toyshops  are  built, 
intended  to  be  taken  down  after  six  months  of 
show ;  not  one  of  the  miserable  Dark  Ages,  when 
cathedrals  were  erected,  to  be  taken  down  only 
after  leases  of  thousands  of  years,  or,  if  suddenly, 
by  convulsions  alone,  that  shake  terribly  the  earth. 
The  dignity  of  toil  is  not  the  new  creation  which 
it  claims  to  be ;  it  was  known  of  old,  and  its  sub- 
limest  exhibitions  have  ever  been  founded  upon 
the  rock.  Long  may  Sir  Joseph  Paxton  enjoy  his 
laurels,  fairly  won,  and  long  may  exemplar  Majes 
ty  outshine  the  jewelled  crown  ;  but  may  it  every 
where  be  heeded  well,  that,  while  plates  of  glass, 
not  being  conductors  of  the  electrical  principle, 
may  negatively  aid  the  commonwealth,  those  men 
are  positive  pillars  of  the  state  whose  spell  can 
charm  the  lightning  of  the  soul  into  brotherly 
kindness,  and  the  bolts  of  anger  into  loyal  chari 
ties. 

But,  as  it  was  about  to  be  said,  in  California 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  71 

there  are  no  Westminster  Abbeys,  or  likenesses 
of  them,  except  in  so  far  as  the  courtesies  of  life, 
which  should  be  like  open  doors,  demand  a  fee. 
Elegant  affinities  cannot  be  attracted  towards  a 
heathenish  region,  that  has  no  catacombs,  where 
the  feet  can  wander  through  halls  after  halls  whose 
sides  are  lined  with  ghastly,  embalmed  human 
shapes,  a  standing  army  of  silent,  spectral  death, 
enrobed  in  dusky  brown,  like  friars,  as  many  of  them 
were  in  life  ;  no  grinning,  Gothic  faces,  or  heads 
of  turbaned  Saracens,  carved  in  stone,  which,  if 
suddenly  appearing  to  people  unused  to  the  daily 
sight,  would  send  them  hurrying,  pale  and  trem 
bling,  to  the  shrine  of  the  nearest  patron-saint  of 
any  body  for  help ;  no  curious  mosaics,  express 
ing  sacred  symbols  or  historic  faces,  less  reverent 
ly  than  the  inner  thought  conceives  ;  no  deceased 
dialects,  with  inexplicable  inscriptions  on  their 
tombstones ;  no  desecrated  paintings  of  holy  per 
sons,  with  miraculously  moving  eyes,  or  statues 
bleeding  for  the  faithful  at  set  times  ;  no  red  con 
gelations,  in  mysterious  vials,  liquefying  once  a 
year ;  no  cenotaphs,  of  rosy  spotted  porphyry,  of 
kings  ;  no  ancient  castles,  with  stains  of  the  blood 
of  slain  favorites  or  ministers  of  state,  yet  opening 


72          THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

red,  revealing  lips  on  stony  floors.  The  presence 
of  some  despairing  men,  grieved  at  home,  and  with 
hopes  of  better  fortune  broken  and  wilted  there, 
and  dangling  about  their  souls  like  faded  garlands 
on  the  brow  of  a  maniac,  may  help,  indeed,  to 
give  that  air  of  misery  which  makes  a  country  at 
tractive  and  classical. 

Thoughts,  which,  if  set  in  the  golden  casket  of 
expression,  would  shine  as  brightly  as  any  rays  from 
the  mental  stars  that  soften  and  illume  the  calm 
night  of  meditation,  may  visit  many  unknown  and 
humble  men,  in  hours  of  patient  service  ;  for,  in 
truth,  all  who  have  ever  won  the  admiration  of  the 
world  have  been  equalled,  each  in  his  special  ca 
pacity,  by  thousands  of  whom  the  world  has  never 
heard.  Many  such,  with  whom  life's  fortunes 
have  gone  hardly,  as  well  as  obscurely,  have  looked 
about  them  on  wan  cheeks  and  fallen  eyes,  and 
at  the  sight  their  hearts  have  gone  down,  as  if 
they  would  not  cease  ;  but  those  hearts  have  been 
lifted  from  wells  of  grief  by  the  news  from  the 
Pacific  shore,  and  the  hope  to  see  those  pale,  thin 
cheeks  full  and  animate  again,  and  those  eyes  no 
more  dull  and  spiritless,  has  persuaded  them  to 
embark  for  the  region  of  promise.  Religion,  that 


THE   DECK    OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.          73 

loves  and  blesses  the  sad,  weighing  the  needs  of 
men  in  scales  of  charity,  and  sifting  motives  in 
her  silver  sieve,  will  encourage  this  decision  or  not, 
as  she  may  wisely  judge  ;  but  Sanctimony,  the 
usurper  of  her  Crystal  Throne,  should  have  earnest 
care,  lest  she  revile  as  mercenary  feelings  as  soft 
ly,  brightly  pure  as  any  thing  on  earth  can  be, 
even  as  the  tears  that  press  upon  the  eyes  of 
childhood,  as  they  turn  their  last  look  upon  the 
bending  face  of  a  mother,  and  then  close,  to  open 
not  again  in  time.  Art  and  Learning,  in  broad 
halls,  tapestried  with  books,  or  in  gorgeous  prisons 
of  the  willing  senses,  should  not  frown  upon  these 
men  for  desiring  to  change  the  living  portraitures 
of  sorrow  into  those  of  gladness,  and  sad  moans  or 
sadder  silence  into  songs  of  ringing  joy  ;  for  to  take 
off  the  weight  from  heavy  hearts  is  as  worthy  and  re 
fining,  as  to  wander  admiringly  through  Tusculan 
villas,  to  trace,  with  Iliad  in  hand,  the  sites  of  Ho 
mer's  cities,  or  to  listen  with  the  cultured  ear  alone 
where  Misereres  bathe  the  soul  in  tearful  ecstasies 
of  sound,  and  beat  with  plaintive,  holy  waves,  until 
responsive  arches,  altars,  walls,  and  pillars  throb 
with  harmony  and  sorrow. 

But  if  the  dispositions  and  motives  of  these  men 


74         THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

be  disdained  by  people  who  have  been  refined  out 
of  sympathy  with  their  kind,  let  them  be  construed 
generously  by  those  who  know  that  the  life  of 
man  has  not  yet  been  made  a  garden  where  he 
who  wills  may  walk  beneath  embowering  shades, 
to  the  music  of  perpetual  fountains.  The  peculiar 
histories  of  every  multitude  of  men  would  furnish 
momentous  chronicles.  Every  heart,  that  has  tal 
lied  its  account  of  beating  life  from  infancy  to 
manhood,  could  supply  an  Epic  with  conflicts,  victo 
ries,  and  defeats.  Magnanimity  may  reside  beneath 
the  sunniest  bronze  and  coarsest  texture,  while 
hard  cunning  may  prefer  pleasant  features  and  ap 
parel  of  the  latest  mode.  The  best  sensibilities  may 
be  seen  in  leaden  caskets,  and  the  harshest  tempers 
may  be  set  in  gold ;  and,  also,  it  is  true,  that  the 
courtesy  of  wealth  may  be  a  faithful  sign  of  warmth 
within,  and  poverty  may  be  made  trebly  poor  by 
a  suspicious  envy,  more  arrogant  than  what  it  en 
vies,  and  by  a  miser's  surliness  and  craft,  that  lack 
alone  his  means. 

Here  may  be  some  hearts  too  dry  ever  to  re 
ceive  a  blight,  which  cannot  lose  the  mellowness 
which  they  have  never  had  ;  and  others,  as  hard 
as  the  united  hardness  of  all  the  nether  and  the 


THE   DECK    OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  75 

upper  millstones  which  ever  compressed  corn  so 
closely,  that  each  grain  cried  out  with  protesting 
agony  as  it  was  ground  to  the  nutritious  dust. 
Avarice,  displayed  by  people  rich  or  poor,  claims, 
properly,  its  dues ;  with  these  let  the  moral  ac 
count  be  also  met  by  full  dividends  of  just  re 
buke  and  compound  usury  of  scorn.  But  soft, 
fair  violets  may  grow  beneath  the  most  corrupted 
tree.  Upon  this  deck  flowers  may  spring,  as  beau 
tiful  and  as  fragrant  as  any  that  ever  sent  their 
odors  forth  in  greenest  meadows ;  here,  too,  may 
be  gnarled  oaks,  which  hold  their  faded  leaves 
tenaciously  until  the  latest  day  of  autumn,  and 
then  yield  them  with  fear,  lest  they  fall  astray, 
and  fertilize  some  other  soil  than  theirs.  Sub 
lime  and  lovely  natures,  above  the  aim  of  the  mi 
ser,  may  be  enshrined  in  wealth  or  in  need.  The 
golden,  perennial  beauty  of  the  soul  depends  not 
on  the  outward  mark. 

In  the  spirits  of  many  here,  memory  may  be 
a  true  sentinel  of  firm  affections,  of  fervent  joys, 
of  tender  sorrows,  which,  not  content  with  being 
merely  prisoners  of  the  memory,  press  by  the 
guard,  in  their  haste  to  catch  the  very  eye  of  the 
soul. 


76          THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 
I. 

Now  brighter  than  the  splendor  of  the  day, 
Which  through  the  sky,  with  clouds  impearled, 

is  spread 

O'er  emerald  banks,  the  waters  of  the  bay, 
The  city  great,  the  ship  that  longs  to  thread 
Her  glancing  furrows  white,  abroad  is  shed 
The  brilliancy  of  wings  by  love  allied 
To  hearts  by  impulses  of  memory  led, 
Towards   shrines   afar,   where   burning  lamps 

abide, 

The  guidance  of  whose  light  no  seas  or  mounts 
can  hide. 

II. 

O'er  hills,  on  which  the  sun's  saluting  beams, 
And  parting,  smile  and  play  entrancingly, 
O'er  the  blue,  silvered,  winding,  rippling  streams, 
Swiftly  as  eagles  to  their  eyries  fly, 
These  visitants  are  borne  with  fervency, 
O'er  forests  deep,  which  ne'er  the  sunshine  know, 
O'er  fertile  plains  and  homes  of  industry, 
O'er  pastures  with  flocks  sprinkled,  valleys  low, 
O'er  fields  where  yellow  waves  of  ripened  plenty 
flow. 


THE   BECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  77 

III. 

Rejoicingly  the  Earth  looks  up  to  see. 
That  man  still  owns  a  portion  of  the  dower 
Which  once  was  his,  when,  with  the  accordancy 
Of  birds  and  brooks,  within  her  bounteous  bower 
Of  eastern  bliss,  where  sprung  each  fragrant 

flower 

» 

And  fair  that  opes  to  taste  the  morning  dew, 
She  greeted  him  in  his  first,  sinless  hour, 
And  for  him  daily  more  delightful  grew, 
While  imaged  on  her  face  shone  every  choicest 
hue. 

IV. 

At  homes,   the    chancels    of    earth's    sacred 

places, 

Where  are  the  rites  with  due  observance  paid 
Of  life's  adorning  and  attractive  graces, 
The  farewell  pilgrimage  of  love  is  stayed. 
Each  heart  now  folding  memory's  flying  aid, 
With  silent  steps,  unseen,  unheard,  descends, 
And,  in  the  precincts  of  the  cherished  shade, 
With  saddening  fears  attended,  lowly  bends, 
While  all  the  pleasant  past  with  present  sorrow 
blends. 


78          THE    DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 
V. 

They  cling  so  eagerly  and  firmly  there, 
That,  of  themselves,  they  cannot  loose  their  hold, 
But  Hope  and  Purpose,  now  approaching,  dare, 
Joining  their  hands  together,  kindly  bold, 
To  lift  the  prostrate  ones,  and,  then,  to  infold 
Their  failing  energies  with  manly  force 
Of  fortitude,  whose  patient  arm  can  mould 
Faint  hearts  to  mighty  souls  :  by  this  resource, 
Nerved  to  return,  they  rise  upon  their  airy  course. 

VI. 

Their  pinions  falter  with  the  weight  of  tears, 
Whose  heavy  moisture  oft  the  soul  may  feel, 
When  eyes  are  dry,  and  show  no  woes  or  fears  ; 
For  they,  when  lavishly  abroad  may  deal 
The  sun  his  fiercest  beams,  may  still  reveal 
Unshrinking  vision,  as  they  sternly  gaze. 
It  is  the  heraldic  crest,  which  marks  the  seal 
Of  true  nobility,  in  troublous  days, 
To  fix  on  Duty's  eye,  through  rough  or  fiery  ways. 

VII. 

As  in  the  sunny  flight  these  tears  arise, 
Keeping  their  form  and  beauty  in  the  sky, 


THE   DECK    OF   THE    CKESCENT   CITY.  79 

They  are  seen  to  glisten  by  the  seraphs'  eyes. 
Who  hold  continual  ward  in  stations  high. 
For  to  these  seven  sentries  ceaselessly 
The  holy  charge  from  Heaven  is  assigned 
To  watch  for  human  tears  with  constancy, 
Since  gems  of  more  imperishable  kind 
As  signs  of  better  life  on  earth  they  cannot  find. 

VIII. 

These  merciful,  good  angels,  in  their  hands, 
Diffusing  pearly  light,  these  crystals  seize, 
And  with  the  glad  alacrity  which  bands 
Ethereal  use,  fulfilling  charities, 
They  reach  the  place,  where  quiring  harmonies 
Proclaim  the  glory  of  the  King  of  Kings. 
They  trembling  kneel ;  at  once  the  melodies 
Of  harp  and  voice  are  still ;  alone  there  rings 
The  richly  rustling  sound  of  many  joining  wings. 

IX. 

The  silent  angel-guards  bend  down  their  eyes, 
And  bear  upon  a  jewelled  salver,  wrought 
With  precious  skill,  these  moist  resplendencies, 
Whose  clear  tongues  plead  to  help  man's  bitter 
lot. 


80  THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT    CITY. 

Would  that  to  stainless  beauty  might  be  brought 
The  germ  divine  of  man,  to  dark  descents 
Though  fallen,  yet  living,  undecayed  to  naught, 
As  'midst  his  errors,  sins,  and  wrong  intents 
These  lucid  points  evince,  these  dewy  arguments. 

Even  if,  to  him  who  departs,  a  pall  seems  to 
invest  all  time  ;  if  the  silent  depths  of  his  soul 
are  dark,  and  every  face,  to  his  distempered  sight, 
answers  the  gloom  of  his ;  if  the  cheers  of  the 
multitude  sound  like  cries  of  agony,  and  the  pant 
ing  of  the  mechanism  like  moans  of  pain,  —  still, 
far  down  in  the  gulf  of  the  past,  glimpses  of 
home  once  happy  may  beam  like  stars,  that  shoot 
forth  as  stormy  clouds  sweep  swiftly  by  them,  to 
show  that  the  tempest  is  broken,  and  to  promise 
the  morning  on  the  sea,  when  the  billows,  playing 
in  the  softened  breeze  and  splendor,  shall  lift 
towards  the  sun  white  crests  of  joy,  and  •  with 
their  shining  hands  press  on  the  ships,  as  if  know 
ing  how  much  more  blessed  it  is  to  help  than  to 
destroy. 

If  he  has  caused  a  blight  to  fall  upon  any  spirit, 
or  has  thrust  away  pure  affections  that  strove  to 
embrace  him  tenderly ;  if  through  means  of  his 


THE   BECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.          81 

any  face  has  grown  daily  more  wan,  and  has 
finally  paled  wholly  from  the  sight,  that  valued 
not  the  treasure ;  if  any  child,  to  whom  his  care 
and  love  should  have  been  like  dew  and  sunshine 
to  the  budding  flower,  has  fled  in  terror  from  his 
glaring  eye  and  frenzied  hand ;  if  he  has  derided 
or  used  ungratefully  any  good  of  Providence  or 
man,  —  still,  now,  the  crisis  of  resolution  may  have 
awakened  his  dull  spirit ;  he  may  remember  en 
treaties  to  forgive  impatience  shown  in  bearing 
woes  which  he  is  conscious  of  having  brought  him 
self,  and  the  memory  may  assure  him  that  a  heart 
so  tender  as  to  crave  pardon  from  one  who  griev 
ously  had  wronged  it,  lacked  not  the  grace  to  grant 
the  boon  it  sought,  and  although  it  cannot  now 
with  living  lips,  yet  in  the  full  sunlight  he  may  see 
bending  upon  him,  from  the  far-off  sky,  eyes 
which  he  once  made  to  be  dim  with  sorrow,  or  to 
look  sadder  from  efforts  to  restrain  their  flowing 
grief,  but  now  beaming  with  forgiving  hope, 
brighter  than  the  sun. 

If  his  heart  has  been  sorrowful  so  long  that 
gladness,  should  it  come,  must  express  itself  by 
sighs ;  if  his  way  has  been  made  rough  with  diffi 
culties  by  those,  who,  if  he  has  failed  to  conquer 


82          THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

them,  have  scoffed  at  his  ill  success,  or,  if  he  has 
manfully  trampled  them  down,  have  taken  the 
praise  of  bringing  out  his  energy  by  opposition  ; 
if  in  his  strenuous  trials  to  gain  a  free  scope  for 
himself,  hands  have  pressed  or  drawn  him  back, 
that  should  heartily  have  helped  him  forward ;  if 
voices  that  should  have  inspired  his  will  have  ma 
ligned  his  purposes  and  ways ;  if  far-sighted  pru 
dence,  denounced  as  obstinacy,  because  defying 
hostile  censure,  and  tenderly  firm  against  friendly 
but  blind  persuasion,  has  in  a  fatal  hour  yielded 
to  the  united  siege  of  enmity  and  love,  and,  after 
wards,  spent  years  of  brokenness  of  spirit  in 
mourning  over  thwarted  aims,  until  those  who  ac 
cepted  submission  with  joy  have  seen  too  late  their 
error,  and  hostile  ones  have  treated  compliance 
with  their  counsels  more  haughtily  and  contempt 
uously  than  they  had  done  resistance  to  them ;  if 
this  or  that  procedure  has  been  recommended  for 
pretended  benefit,  but  really  to  cut  the  wings  of  a 
design  that  seemed  about  to  cross  the  course  of 
the  adviser,  though  with  no  such  intent ;  if  energy 
has  first  learned  the  consciousness  of  itself  from 
seeing  lips  of  scorn ;  if  in  the  house  of  friends 
wounds  have  been  given  that  have  chilled  the  fer- 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT    CITY.          83 

vor  of  life,  and  still  charity,  knowing  that  there 
was  no  design  to  cut  like  swords,  or  to  pierce  like 
heated  points  of  steel,  has  not  accused,  lest  pangs 
should  thrill  through  a  heart,  or  tears  bedew  a 
face  beloved ;  whether  or  not  reasons  like  these 
have  cast  their  weight  into  the  scale ;  or,  if  life 
has  hitherto  passed  happily  ;  if  good-will  has 
cheered  the  struggling  path,  and  daily  frowns 
have  not  made  the  hours  sad ;  if  friendly  hands 
have  been  prompt  to  promote  worthy  aims ;  if  the 
heart  has  been  more  pained  by  over-kind  regard 
than  by  contumely  or  chilliness  ;  if  sorrow  has  but 
deepened  and  brightened  the  soul  and  the  sight? 
made  more  manly  the  pressure  of  the  foot,  and 
depressed  alone  a  haughty  bearing  of  the  head ; 
whether  the  mind  refers  to  a  more  sunny  or  to 
a  more  cloudy  past,  hope  is  yet  busy  with  the 
fibres  of  each  heart,  and  teaching  to  some  lips  the 
song  of  a  lighter  and  fairer  future,  to  others  of 
one  less  dark  and  sad. 

The   eye   now   turns  again  to  the  journal,  in 
which  the  editor  shows 

How  like  the  dew  of  Hermon  't  is  to  see 
Both  Ministers  and  Congressmen  agree 


84          THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

In  laboring  to  secure  the  public  good 
More  fervently  than  for  their  daily  food ; 
And  to  their  country  showing  all  devotion, 
Without  a  thought  of  personal  promotion. 

But  a  crowd  of  trunks  make  such  confusion  that 
these  paradisiacal  portraitures  cannot  be  viewed 
with  the  serene  and  absorbing  rapture  which  is 
due  to  the  few  memorials  on  earth  of  the  reign  of 
Saturn.  It  is  natural  that  men  should  wish  to 
keep  trunks  as  far  out  of  the  way  of  harm,  and  as 
much  under  their  eye,  as  they  can  ;  for  trunks  are 
useful  and  pleasant  travelling  companions,  not 
withstanding  inspectors  of  customs,  who,  it  is 
gratifying  to  know,  sometimes  cut  their  fingers 
with  glass  ornaments,  when  searching  for  smug 
gled  silk  or  contraband  lace. 

Ne'er  is  a  man  more  at  a  loss  to  know 
What  with  himself  to  do,  or  where  to  go, 
Than  when,  amazed,  his  trunk  he  cannot  find, 
With  best  and  nearest  goods  and  chattels  lined. 

The  most  attractive  objects  then  lose  their  en 
chantment.  Superb  editions  of  the  old  poets, 
with  clasps  of  silver  guarding  thoughts  of  gold ; 


THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.          85 

cathedrals,  lighted  and  shaded  by  stained  win 
dows,  having  carved  oaken  choirs,  pillars  of  choice 
marble,  and  floors  of  mosaic ;  illuminated  man 
uscripts,  thronged  with  figures,  stiff,  but  very 
brightly  colored ;  gorgeously  panelled  walls  of 
palaces,  and  ceilings  storied  in  fresco ;  paintings 
of  the  old  masters,  or  statuary  of  older  or  of 
later  than  they,  ruling  the  spirit  with  sceptres  of 
beauty ;  matins  and  vespers  breathing  harmonies 
into  the  ears  of  the  devout  air ;  lofty  cypresses, 
making  walls  of  verdure  with  masses  of  interlacing 
foliage  ;  operas  fanning  the  senses  with  dramatic 
music ;  —  all  these  things  are  no  more  sources 
of  delight  to  a  man  who  has  lost  his  trunk,  than 
if  their  graces  were  under  the  lock  of  the  recep 
tacle  which  has  gone,  and  whither  the  distracted 
student  of  the  beautiful  cannot  divine.  A  man 
who  has  searched  in  vain  to  find  his  trunk  cannot 
make  his  presence  agreeable  to  himself  anywhere. 
He  may  be  proven  to  have  lost  his  head,  for  he 
has  been  forsaken  by  his  senses,  those  busy  rep 
resentatives,  that,  in  their  capitol,  the  brain,  con 
duct  the  affairs  of  their  nervous  constituencies. 
"Whatever  be  the  figure  of  this  argument,  or 
though  it  belong  to  none  of  the  series,  the  man 


86          THE   DECK    OF   THE    CRESCENT    CITY, 

knows  his  desolate  figure,  and  the  barbarous  mode 
of  his  personality ;  and  if  the  terms  be  not  duly 
distributed,  he  believes  that  his  valuables,  includ 
ing  letters  dated  at  the  heart,  have  been  distrib 
uted  to  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  and  to  thou 
sands  of  curious  eyes. 

But  if  the  premises  be  doubtful,  the  Archbishop 
of  Dublin  himself  would  allow  the  conclusion  to 
be  conclusive,  if  his  Grace  ever  lost  a  portfolio 
in  which  was  an  Episcopal  charge,  which  he  had 
carefully  prepared  for  a  special  occasion,  of  which 
he  kept  no  copy,  while  his  clergy,  having  waited 
in  vain  for  its  wisdom  and  logic  to  be  dispensed  to 
them,  were  at  last  compelled  to  accept  a  dispen 
sation  in  the  Papal  sense,  excusing  them  from 
attention. 

A  man  of  weak  nerves  would  be  annoyed  by 
arriving  at  the  wharf  just  in  season  to  see  the 
steamer,  with  his  goods  sent  beforehand  safely 
on  board,  moving  gracefully  out  of  the  bay,  while 
his  frantic  cries  "  Stop !  stop !  "  drowned  by  the 
cheers  of  the  crowd,  cannot  retract  a  single  revo 
lution  of  the  wheels.  He  would  be  even  less 
pleased  to  find,  several  hours  after  leaving  port, 
that  his  most  important  trunk  had  been  left  be- 


THE   DECK    OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.          87 

hind.  The  consciousness  of  personal  security 
would  be  made  by  the  loss  of  personal  accompa 
niments  to  increase,  rather  than  allay,  his  agita 
tion.  Hence  the  general  excitement  about  trunks 
will  not  be  censured,  however  much  it  may  for  a 
time  obstruct  freedom  of  action,  or  damage  indi 
viduality,  which  last  is  an  Admirable  quality  for  a 
hermitage,  or  for  a  rural  retreat,  but  not  for  the 
deck  of  a  steamer  bound  for  the  Isthmus,  or  for 
the  hurrying  world  in  general.  Conglomeration 
rules  the  day,  and  let  it  have  a  fair  field,  to  show 
its  power  for  ill  or  for  good,  that  men  may  return 
to  the  old  path,  or  adopt  the  more  excellent  way. 
Probably  none  of  the  passengers  are  in  peril  of 
the  archiepiscopal  difficulty,  for  though  each  trunk 
may  be  the  cause  of  as  much  commotion  as  any 
one  of  the  official  charges  or  discharges  of  his 
valiant  Lordship,  Henry  of  Exeter,  it  is  not  to 
be  supposed  that  the  trunks  hold  any  charges, 
clerical  or  lay,  beyond,  it  may  be,  in  two  or 
three,  a  few  small  bills,  which  in  the  hurry  of 
departure  there  was  no  time  to  settle. 

The  revolutions  of  the  wheels  of  a  steamship 
are  examples  of  a  kind  of  rotation  in  office,  which, 
besides  being  needful  for  efficient  progress,  are  un- 


88          THE   DECK    OF   THE    CRESCENT    CITY. 

like  some  other  modes  of  that  operation,  in  sel 
dom  causing  bitter  displeasure  to  any  one,  but 
rather  hearty  complacency  to  all  parties  con 
cerned,  though  having  some  likeness  in  the  way 
in  which  it  is  sustained,  which  is  by  keeping 
the  steam  well  up,  and  by  bringing  all  the  forces 
within  reach  to  bear  .upon  the  main  shaft,  or  the 
main  chance,  as  the  case  may  be.  Wheels  are 
also  revolvers,  which  steamships  hold  out,  right 
and  left,  in  fighting  their  way  through  the  sea : 
and  these  now  revolve  half  around  and  then  back, 
ending  their  endeavors,  like  people  whose  activ 
ity  of  design  excels  firmness  of  will,  in  a  mere 
fuss  of  foam  and  commotion.  The  machinery 
pufis  and  groans  for  its  proper  sphere  of  exertion, 
like  the  energies  of  a  statesman,  who  longs  to  be 
kicking  at  foreign  nations  and  at  domestic  ene 
mies,  but  who  is  restrained  from  such  ministration 
by  the  electoral  chain  of  a  want  of  votes  ;  if, 
indeed,  any  thing  so  positive  as  a  chain-cable  can 
be  compared  to  an  absolute  negation.  The  state 
ly  funnel  towers  over  the  ship  with  a  kind  of  Sa 
tanic  fascination,  as  if  it  would  inspire  some  pre 
cipitate  person  to  climb  to  the  black  summit  of 
the  cylinder  like  a  squirrel,  and  then  to  dive 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  89 

down  into  its  smoking  recesses,  merely  to  see 
where,  amongst  the  complicated  machinery,  his 
"  dark  descent "  would  be  stopped,  the  adventurer 
not  thinking  that  his  exploit  might  prove  to  be  as 
disastrous  as  an  appeal  to  a  Court  of  Equity,  of 
which  it  is  generally  true,  that  it  is  much  easier 
to  get  in  than  to  get  out. 

The  tones  of  bells  have  an  apostolical  character, 
for  their  significance  is  so  various,  that  they  may 
be  said  to  become  all  things  to  all  men,  that  they 
may  gain  the  ears  of  some.  They  express  every 
note  in  the  gamut  of  human  emotion,  from  the 
low  moan  of  despair  to  the  high  ecstasy  of  hope. 
There  are  bells  for  births,  for  the  house  of  mourn 
ing,  and  for  the  marriage-feast.  Peels,  knells,  and 
chimes  proclaim  the  trinity  of  man's  life  on  earth, 
joy,  sorrow7,  and  devotion,  for  all  men  worship 
something,  and  the  object  of  their  homage  has 
its  proper  music.  There  are  bells  that  toll  the 
watches  of  the  night,  that  usher  in  the  dawn,  that 
announce  every  hour  of  the  sun's  march,  and  of 
evening  bells  poetry  is  full.  Bells  declare  victo 
ries,  and  the  anniversaries  of  great  deeds.  There 
are  bells  of  terror,  which  signify  fires,  earth- 


90          THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

quakes,  and  the  approaches  of  enemies ;  Protes 
tant  bells,  that  ring  vehemently  like  perpetual 
memorials  of  Luther's  voice,  and  Catholic  bells, 
which  are  seldom  rung,  but  which  are  struck 
incessantly,  making  glad  the  faithful  and  annoy 
ing  the  faithless  ;  glad  and  vociferous  bells,  which 
proclaim  the  birth  of  an  heir  to  an  imperial  crown, 
and  soft,  deceptive  bells,  which  give  the  signal 
for  Sicilian  vespers  ;  bells  that  strike  six  of  a 
dark,  icy  morning  in  winter,  irritating  collegians, 
and  bells  that  strike  one  of  a  summer  midnight, 
to  the  meditative  torture  of  Dr.  Young,  and  to 
the  more  lamentable  torture  of  English  verse  in 
the  way  of  sentimental  crudities,  sickly  fancies, 
and  the  vagaries  of  spasmodic  piety  on  stilts  ; 
bells  that  hurry  travellers  to  the  cars,  and  warn 
deaf  people  to  beware  of  the  crossings  of  engines ; 
bells  that  call  passengers  in  a  steamboat  to  the 
captain's  office  to  settle  their  fares,  and  more 
pleasant  bells  which  summon  them  to  the  table 
for  supper  ;  and  bells  like  this  one,  advising 
people  who  have  come  on  board  to  take  leave  of 
friends,  that  they  will  do  wisely  to  retire  soon,  if 
they  wish  not  to  find  themselves  on  the  way  to 
Chagres,  with  no  preparations  for  crossing  the 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  91 

Isthmus  in  the  rainy  season,  and  with  not  even  a 
spurious  ticket  for  the  passage  between  Panama 
and  San  Francisco.  Farewells,  attended  by  a 
guard  of  good  wishes  and  kind  hopes,  issue  from 
the  lips ;  and  hands  give  and  return  an  earnest 
pressure.  About  the  parting  words  may  play  an 
almost  merry  liveliness,  which  proves  sincerity 
better  than  a  studied  endeavor  to  look  suitably 
sad,  which  usually  succeeds  in  looking  very  un 
gracious  and  sour.  Regret  at  losing  the  presence 
of  a  friend  may  be  blended  with  enjoyment  of  it, 
growing  more  intense  as  every  moment  shortens 
it,  and  the  fervor  of  the  spirit  may  be  expressed 
in  this  divided  way ;  or,  to  return  to  bells,  as  the 
tones  of  a  bell  sound  wonderfully  pure,  reach  far, 
and  endure  long,  when  a  dampness  pervades  the 
air,  so  pleasantries  of  speech,  struck  from  hearts 
moist  with  sensibility,  ring  clear  and  make  music 
long  after  in  the  ears  of  him  that  goes  and  of 
him  that  stays  ;  and  parting  smiles  are  among  the 
brightest  treasures  of  the  memory,  for  they  throw 
over  after  hours  a  beautiful  and  cheering  halo  of 
light. 

The  last  friend  has  walked  the  plank  from  the 
deck  to  the  pier ;  the  steam  discharges  bullets  of 


92  THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

sound,  which  pierce  the  ears,  and  mingle  with  the 
general  concert  of  puffing,  roaring,  and  shouting 
noises  ;  the  wheels  begin  to  revolve  with  more  de 
termination  :  one  is  forced  to  consider  the  victo 
ries  of  the  usurper,  steam ;  as,  how  many  coaches 
have  run  their  last  stage,  and  overturned  their 
impatient  passengers  into  rapid  cars ;  how  many 
bluff  and  merry  Saxon  drivers  have  yielded  place 
to  precise  and  polite  Latin  conductors ;  how 
neighboring  States,  unmindful  of  the  Apostolic 
precept,  have  diligently  rendered  railing  for  rail 
ing  to  secure  Canadian  trade,  or  for  some  other 
purpose  equally  excellent ;  in  short,  how  fast  the 
world  with  all  that  it  contains  is  coming  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Prince  of  the  Power  of  the  Air : 
and  one  conjectures  whether  other  kinds  of  con 
veyance  may  not  soon  be  managed  by  steam, 
whether  real  estates,  which  have  been  alienated 
sometimes  by  the  fumes  of  alcohol,  may  not  be 
conveyed  by  steam  proper,  in  which  case  they 
would  not  be  perplexed  with  a  long  retinue  of 
contingent  remainders ;  for  steam  never  has  any 
contingent  remainders,  except  when  two  trains  of 
cars,  going  at  the  rate  of  fifty  miles  an  hour,  sud 
denly  meet  on  the  same  track,  to  shake  hands 


THE   DECK    OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY.  93 

and  ask  the  price  of  stocks.  If  there  be  any 
niche  in  the  Temple  of  Invention  yet  unoccupied, 
it  must  be  in  reserve  for  the  blessed  individual 
who  shall  successfully  apply  steam  to  suits  in 
chancery,  so  that  an  estate  may  pass  through 
that  long  tract  of  country,  without  being  detained 
too  long  in  the  green  pastures  of  luxurious  fees, 
or  being  locked  up  for  too  many  years  in  the 
terrible  dungeons  of  a  snivelling  chancellor's 
doubts. 

The  steamer  being  now  on  the  point  of  depart 
ure,  while  hats,  hands,  and  handkerchiefs  wave 
together  in  the  air,  a  young  man,  of  commanding 
figure  and  of  bold  but  not  unbecoming  manners,  a 
u  Bowery  boy,"  stands  upon  the  upper  deck  at  the 
stern  of  the  ship,  beneath  the  floating  banner  of 
his  country.  Waving  first  his  hat  and  then  his 
handkerchief,  he  addresses  the  people  on  shore 
with  a  loud  and  searching  voice.  His  precise 
words  cannot  be  reported,  but  there  is  no  doubt 
that  they  were  of  the  following  import. 

"  Fellow-citizens,  we  are  bound  for  California, 
where  there  is  gold  enough  and  plenty  of  it.  But 
we  are  not  going  altogether  for  that.  We  hope 
to  enjoy  ourselves  in  a  new  country.  Still,  for 


94          THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

my  part,  I  am  willing  to  say,  that  I  mean  to  re 
turn  to  New  York  with  the  biggest  piece  of  what 
was  once  Mexico  that  I  can  dig  out  of  the  earth, 
carry  in  my  hat  to  the  shore  (hat  in  my  hand, 
my  good  friends),  and  bring  home  in  my  trunk.  I 
assure  you,  my  particular  friends,  as  you  all  are, 
that  I  have  no  harder  wish  for  any  of  you  than 
that  you  may  all  come  out  in  the  next  steamer, 
and  do  the  same  likewise.  Fellow-citizens,  it  is 
peculiarly  proper  to  consider  at  such  a  time  as 
this  the  glory  of  our  country.  No  nation  now  on 
earth  holds  her  head  so  high  as  ours,  and  no  one 
has  so  good  a  right  to  do  so.  Two  wars,  the 
Crystal  Palace,  and  Collins's  line,  have  proved  to 
the  satisfaction  of  every  body,  that  we  have  now 
beaten  England  and  the  rest  of  mankind  in  all  the 
elements,  —  land,  water,  steam,  and  machinery. 
Now,  fellow-citizens,  the  golden  rule  of  our  re 
publican  system  is,  as  you  have  all  been  instruct 
ed  from  childhood,  that  we  should  do  honor  to 
those  who  do  honor  to  us.  That  is  Republican 
ism,  or  it  is  nothing,  and  our  history  will  show 
that,  in  all  cases,  this  rule  has  been  invariably 
obeyed.  The  fact  is,  that  for  our  country  to 
honor  those  who  honor  her  is  one  of  our  great  and 


THE   BECK   OF  THE   CRESCENT   CITY.          95 

glorious  and  free  institutions,  which  we  are  bound 
to  respect,  love,  cherish,  and  obey  till  death  us  do 
part,  and  so  forth,  as  the  Westminster  Catechism 
says.     That  being  the  case,  suffer  me  to  make  a 
suggestion.      We  all  hope,  of  course,  that  the 
prince  of  exhibitors,  before  he  closes  his  show  for 
the  last  time  (and  long  may  it  be  before  he  does), 
—  I  thank  you  for  applauding  that  sentiment,  — 
we  all  hope,  that  he  will  be  the  governor  of  his 
inventive  commonwealth.    Let  me  also  advise  that 
the  contriver  of  the  famous  yacht  be  chosen  Pres 
ident  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  people ;  and 
let  the  inventor  of  the  reaping-machine,  who  de- 
'serves,  as  all  admit,  a  first-rate  place  in  the  hearts 
of  every  body,  let  him  be  President  of  the  Senate. 
He  would  gather  the  grain  of  public  affairs,  and 
sift  it,  to  some  purpose.    Let  the  man  who  picked 
Braham's    locks    decide    questions    of   order   as 
Speaker  of  the  House ;  and,  finally,  let  the  in 
ventor  of  six-barrelled  revolvers  be  Secretary  of 
State.     Our  country  could  then  face  her  enemies 
and  go  ahead  with  a  will.     I  am  told  that  the 
picker  of  locks  is  a  Boston  boy,  and  my  literary 
friends  —  of  whom  I  am  happy  to  say  that  I  have 
a  large  number  —  assure  me  that  the  genius  of 


96          THE   DECK    OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

the  place,  as  it  is  called  in  some  old-fashioned 
language  or  other,  is  so  marked,  that 

Boston  young  women,  on  the  verge  of  twenty. 
Having  of  sciences  a  fearful  plenty, 
The  mystic  stores  of  German  lore  expanding, 
Can  pick  the  Locke  on  Human  Understanding, 

and  make  it  worthless  in  five  minutes. 

"  But  let  me  not  wander  from  my  subject,  lest 
I  err  as  much  as  a  reverend  scholar  might  do, 
who,  in  addressing  a  literary  society  on  the 
American  Mind,  should  discourse  at  length  upon 
Wat  Tyler's  rebellion,  when  a  few  brief  remarks 
upon  President  John  Tyler's  administration  would 
be  more  directly  to  the  point.  What  has  Wat 
Tyler  ever  done  to  develop  the  American  Mind  ? 
He  never  annexed  Texas,  or,  as  the  result  of  that, 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  To  return,  fellow-citizens,  let 
me  again  exhort  you  to  follow  our  example,  and 
join  our  enterprise  as  soon  as  you  can  conven 
iently,  and  sooner,  if  possible ;  but  at  any  rate, 
wherever  we  go  or  wherever  we  stay,  whatever 
we  do  or  whatever  we  don't  do,  let  us  never  for 
get  to  remember  the  American  flag  and  the  Amer 
ican  eagle  ;  and  may  the  first  see  more  and  more 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  97 

stars,  every  year,  and  the  last  grow  larger  and 
larger,  and  his  eyes  brighter,  and  his  claws 
sharper,  and  his  shout  louder,  as  long  as  we  live, 
and  for  a  long  time  afterwards.  The  greatest 
man  that  ever  lived  is  reported  to  have  said  at 
Cambridge,  when  the  Yankee  College  there  made 
him  a  Doctor  of  Laws,  for  his  skilful  surgery 
upon  the  body  politic,  and  by  way  of  diplomatic 
sanction  for  his  doing  more  of  the  same  sort,  —  this 
man,  in  acknowledging  the  degree  conferred  upon 
him,  as  it  is  said,  using  the  same  energy  of  voice 
with  which  he  declared  that  the  deposits  should  be 
removed  from  the  jaws  of  the  Monster,  spoke  as 
follows  :  '  E  pluribus  unum.  Palmam  qui  meruit 
ferat.  Pro  bono  publico.  Amen.'  These  affecting, 
original,  and  patriotic  remarks  are  said  to  be  pros- 
pectively  prophetical,  and  to  mean,  as  I  am  told 
by  people  who  understand  the  English  language 
when  expressed  in  Latin  words,  that  this  whole 
continent  belongs  to  us,  by  right,  desert,  and  the 
general  welfare,  and  that  the  sooner  we  have  it 
in  our  power  in  any  way,  but  the  best  way  if  we 
can,  the  better  it  will  be  for  all  the  parties  con 
cerned.  Fellow-citizens,  in  bidding  you  good  by, 
until  we  meet  again,  allow  me  to  observe  that  the 

7 


98          THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

sentiment  quoted  was  not  only  a  good,  Christian 
sentiment,  that  deserved  an  Amen,  but  also  a 
patriotic  one,  entitled  to  three  cheers." 

As  the  steamer  began  to  move  forward,  before 
these  last  words  had  fairly  left  the  lips  of  the 
speaker,  the  cheers  which  heartily  arose  from  the 
ship  and  the  pier  may  have  been  the  exchange  of 
spontaneous  good-will  between  the  passengers  and 
spectators  generally,  and  not  a  special  answer  to 
the  ingenious  thought  which  closed  the  harangue. 
The  speaker,  seeing  his  audience  fast  receding 
from  him,  joined  vociferously  in  the  cheers, 
again  waving  his  hat  and  handkerchief  by  turns. 
At  last  he  put  his  hat  on  his  head  and  his  hand 
kerchief  in  his  pocket ;  but  had  he  reversed  this 
order,  he  would  not  have  acted  altogether  without 
that  first  requisite  for  scrupulous  men,  —  a  pre 
cedent  ;  for,  not  long  ago,  the  heir  of  the  an 
cient  and  noble  house  of  Derby,  in  ascending  the 
Andes,  at  the  worst  season  of  the  year,  and 
quicker  than  was  ever  known  before,  except  by  a 
special  express  in  times  of  revolution,  as  if  the 
injunction,  "  On,  Stanley,  on !  "  directly  referred 
to  himself,  this  gentleman,  who,  if  ever  called  to 
share  in  the  government  of  his  country,  cannot 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.  99 

be  blamed  for  official  neglect,  if  he  shall  con 
duct  public  affairs  with  the  same  expedition  and 
strength  which  he  showed  in  that  surprising 
journey,  —  this  young,  manly,  and  enterprising 
statesman,  finding  the  wind  to  be  very  boisterous 
in  the  passage  of  Chimborazo,  making  his  hat 
unmanageable,  put  it  in  his  pocket ;  so  that,  if  the 
Bowery  boy  had  done  the  same,  he  would  have 
followed  an  illustrious  example ;  but,  with  a  due 
regard  for  final  causes,  he  put  it  upon  his  head, 
and  then  looked  about  him  with  an  air  of  re 
served  energy  and  decision,  as  if  bent  upon  ad 
vancing  the  greatness  and  glory  of  his  country  by 
every  wray  in  his  power,  and,  on  his  private  ac 
count,  of  despatching  any  one  who  should  dare  to 
insult  him  upon  that  never  more  than  ten  days' 
journey  to  obscurity,  commonly  called  sending  a 
man  into  the  middle  of  next  week,  —  a  mode  of 
propulsion,  however,  which,  it  is  said  upon  good 
scientific  authority,  would  distract  all  the  doctors 
and  students  of  a  Dutch  university  for  seventy- 
two  successive  hours,  in  arguing  that  by  the  sci 
ence  of  dynamics  no  such  thing  could  be  done. 

Among  the  crowd  of  cheering  spectators  may 
be  some  relatives,  who  count  with  rapture  upon 


100       THE   DECK    OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

the  affluence  of  returning  fathers,  sons,  brothers, 
or  cousins ;  and,  in  some  cases,  there  may  be  an 
incipient  jealousy,  consistent  with  kind  wishes,  lest 
departing  ones  may  return  so  glorified  and  exalted 
by  Californian  success,  as  to  eclipse  the  less  splen 
did  efforts  of  others.  There  may  be  a  ground  for 
such  good-natured  jealousy, 

For  there  is  seldom  known  at  once  to  be 
More  than  one  lion  in  a  family. 

Fears  and  hopes,  tears  and  smiles,  faithful  affec 
tions  and  fervent  blessings,  may  lie  underneath 
the  uproar  of  those  who  have  come  from  curiosity 
mainly  to  see  another  steamship  depart  for  Cha- 
gres. 

The  day  is  bright ;  and  thus  favored  by  a  pleas 
ant  sky,  and  by  loud  and  hearty  benedictions,  the 
steamer  proceeds ;  the  people  on  shore  watch 
eagerly  the  graceful  motion  seaward  of  the  noble 
vessel ;  and  the  passengers,  standing  upon  the  up 
per  deck,  look  no  less  intently  upon  the  receding 
city.  Hardly  a  mile  has  been  passed  over,  when 
the  wheels  suddenly  cease  to  revolve;  and,  to 
the  general  amazement,  anchor  is  dropped  about 
two  thousand  miles  from  the  place  where  it  might 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.        101 

have  been  thought,  five  minutes  before,  that  it 
would  strike  its  flukes  into  the  ground.  The  pas 
sengers  are  with  good  reason  confounded.  Those 
who  are  strangers  from  the  country  may  be  less 
confounded  than  the  rest,  from  thinking  that  the 
rushing  chain  at  the  bows  may  be  simply  a  part 
of  the  machinery ;  and  so  it  is,  but  not  of  the 
motive  kind.  The  clerk  soon  appears  upon  deck, 
and  in  the  cabins,  politely  informing  passengers 
that  they  can  go  ashore  until  the  next  morning, 
as  some  portion  of  the  machinery  labors,  and 
needs  to  be  set  right. 

The  ship  had  been  performing  the  nautical 
gymnastics,  called  pausing  on  the  centre,  which 
means,  that,  instead  of  moving  on  her  way  with 
even  tenor,  she  stopped  to  take  breath  at  every 
revolution  of  the  wheels,  before  taking  another 
leap  forward  into  the  waves,  a  movement  well 
enough  for  those  who  like  it,  when  the  sea  is 
smooth,  but  suggestive  of  nervous  apprehensions 
in  a  furious  gale  ;  for  should  a  steamship,  at  such 
a  time,  when  crossing  two  huge  billows,  pause  too 
long  on  the  centre,  the  whole  establishment  might 
suddenly  divide,  leaving  the  captain,  officers,  pas 
sengers,  crew,  and  all  hands  generally,  to  go  in 


102        THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT    CITY. 

different  directions,  and  neither  of  them  towards 
Chagres,  or  any  place  inhabited  by  living  men, 
and  with  but  one  engine  between  them,  and  that 
going  down  as  fast  as  it  can,  to  pause  upon  the 
centre  of  gravitation  for  some  ages,  perhaps  to 
aid  in  convoying  some  of  the  ships,  which,  like 
spirits  that  once  breathed  the  upper  air,  move  in 
silent,  dreary  circles  on  the  black,  breathless, 
waveless  deep,  while  their  spectral  crews  keep 
their  unbroken  watch  below. 

This  accident  not  only  detains  the  ship,  but 
forces  the  narration  itself  to  cast  anchor,  and  the 
reflections  upon  the  beautiful  bay  of  New  York 
are  of  course  deferred  to  a  more  convenient  occa 
sion.  But  a  writer's  purpose  should  overcome 
harder  mischances  than  this,  for,  if  all  the  intimi 
dations  of  literary  history  cannot  turn  him  aside, 
he  ought  not  to  mind  being  so  suddenly  brought 
to  a  stand.  Let  not  this  unlooked  for  and  per 
plexing  detention  cause  longer  delay  than  is  need 
ful  to  decide  what  can  be  done.  The  passengers 
have  nearly  all  obeyed  the  clerk's  polite  invitation 
to  go  ashore,  and  the  city,  seen  to  be  surrounded 
by  the  tall  masts  of  ships,  suggests  the  use  of 
those  convenient  contrivances  as  figures  of  speech^ 


THE   DECK    OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.        103 

in  which  respect  they  have  been  of  good  service, 
since  timber  was  first  made  to  float ;  for  the  Ark, 
of  blessed  memory,  not  only  saved  what  was 
worth  saving  at  an  important  period  of  human 
history,  but  a  timely  resort  to  it  as  a  figure  of 
speech  has  saved  many  an  orator  from  metaphor 
ical  drowning,  at  a  rhetorical  crisis. 

The  city  is  a  sea  of  lives  freighted 

In  transient  vessels  to  make  voyages 

From  time's  decaying  shore  to  those  vast  ports 

Where  all  arrivers  find  fast  anchorage, 

To  that  strange  land,  whose  capes  reach  out  so 

far, 

That  some  barks  gain  their  destination  soon, 
While  the  deep  bays  withdraw  their  shelving  sands 
So  far  inland,  that  others  press  the  sea, 
Ere  they  are  harbored,  more  than  fourscore  years. 
Launched  on  the  wave  of  life  the  little  boat 
Moves  tremulous,  as  though  a  ruder  touch 
Of  the  new  billows  would  break  up  its  frame  ; 
Full  oft  it  does  ;  and  then  the  tender  frigate 
Launches,  in  turn,  the  memory  of  its  voyage 
Upon  a  flood  of  tears  ;  or,  if  more  blest, 
Or  less,  for  this  no  foresight  can  resolve, 


104        THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

The  bark  shall  conquer  the  great,  breaking  sea, 
Expanding  shapely  comeliness  it  glides 
Before  the  vigorous  pressure  of  the  wind, 
Which  breathes  odorous  sweetness  from  the  banks, 
Where  youth  and  hope  their  bowers  of  beauty  build. 
Thus  may  two  ships,  one  more  by  vigor  marked, 
And  the  other  more  by  gracefulness  of  form, 
From  diverse  ports  proceeding,  near  approach 
Each  other,  wafted  by  the  generous  gale 
Of  love  reciprocal,  thence  on  life's  course 
To  advance  through  storm  or  sunshine,  side  by 

side, 

Until  one  strikes  upon  the  mystic  shore, 
Whence  Qan  no  mortal  keel  remove,  and  then 
The  one  deprived  in  loneliness  goes  on, 
Until  it  gains  the  limit  of  its  course. 

These  voyagers  are  variously  equipped 
For  their  swift  courses  on  existence'  sea ; 
Some,  spreading  sunny  sails  of  texture  strong, 
Court  the  affluent  winds,  and  move  o'er  shining 

waves, 

That  feel  exhilarating  airs  alone, 
While  each  sail  met  bends  in  sweet  courtesy 
To  these  fine  ships,  so  bounteously  supplied 


THE   DECK    OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.       105 

With  every  cabin  luxury  of  life ; 
Others,  with  canvas  torn,  meagre,  too  thin 
For  stress  of  storms,  prevail  not  on  the  breezes 
To  waft  them  kindly  on,  but  are  exposed 
To  cruel,  shifting  gales,  which  swell  the  sea, 
Until  it  beats  and  roars ;  o'er  billows  hard 
They  wander,  roughly  pushed,  appointed  ill, 
Neglected,  unsaluted,  and  condemned 
To  stifle  want  with  short  allowances 
And  musty  bread. 

Some  are  of  timbers  old, 

Battered  by  storms,  made  tough  by  service  hard, 
Oft  bending  to  the  gale,  yet  not  o'erthrown, 
In  gentle  weather  easy  and  benign, 
Of  stiff  resistance  in  dark  peril's  hour ; 
Others  no  strain  have  felt  of  tempests  rough, 
And,  in  smooth  waters  gliding,  can  maintain 
An  amiable  mien,  enchanting  all 
To  see  them  bear  so  gracefully  along 
So  much  delight  and  love ;  yet  broken  ships 
With  tattered  sails  there  are,  which  grieve  the 

sight, 

And  yet  which  would  as  amiable  appear 
As  any  that  adorn  life's  pleasant  sea, 
If  they  had  not  had  conflicts  rude  to  bear 


106       THE   DECK   OF   THE   CKESCENT   CITY. 

With  angry  skies,  sharp  lightnings,  and  the  host 
Of  troubles  that  molest  the  human  heart. 
When  airs  are  balmy,  and  the  seas  are  smooth, 
It  easy  is  to  be  of  nature  sweet. 
That  is  alone  true  amiability, 
Which  stands  the  test  of  penury  and  pain. 
See*others  fluttering  with  bright  streamers  gay, 
Making  of  life  a  constant  holiday. 

Some  lend  to  others  prompt,  becoming  aid, 
In  times  of  sorrow  and  of  utmost  need, 
With  wholesome  plenty  filling  scant  supplies, 
Lending  new  sails,  or  stopping  dismal  leaks 
Of  poverty  or  wrong  ;  others  with  scorn, 
Provided  well  themselves,  pass  swiftly  by 
Their  broken  neighbors,  taking  notice  none, 
Or  with  bland,  simpering  words  that  nothing  mean, 
And  less  bring  forth,  answering  their  conscience' 

call. 

Another,  far  from  helping  in  distress, 
Withholding  e'en  cheap  verbal  comfort,  looks 
With  eager  sight,  where'er  a  tidy  ship 
With  a  good  cargo  laden  homeward  speeds, 
And  then,  making  quick  sail,  bears  down  at  once 
Upon  the  modest  bark,  and  breaks  it  up, 


THE   BECK  OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.        107 

And,  the  good  cargo  shifting  to  its  hold, 

Leaves  the  poor  injured  ship  to  sink  or  float 

O'er  wayward  waves,  the  toil  of  patient  years 

Lost  in  collision  with  rich  insolence, 

And  earnings  small  gone  to  increase  the  wealth 

Of  one  who  should  have  spared,  not  taken  more ; 

And  then,  the  haughty  vessel  sailing  on, 

As  it  beholds  another  like  itself, 

Congratulating  signals  gives  and  takes 

For  the  shrewd  deed,  as  though  it  were  as  good 

As  an  archangel  would  rejoice  to  do, 

And  not  such  as  should  make  a  devil  blush. 

Look  also  on  those  ships,  famed  for  exploits 

On  war's  rough  ocean,  or  on  smoother  waves 

Of  policy.     How  gracefully  upon  their  course, 

Lined  with  great  throngs  of  cheering  sails,  they 

g°> 

Bending  complacent  bows  to  all  around, 
But  most  complacent  ones  to  those  dear  crafts, 
That  cast  for  anchors  votes. 

Still  other  ships, 

Manned  by  the  loving  goodnesses  of  life, 
Make  it  their  aim  to  go  in  search  of  wrecks ; 
And  many  wrecks  there  are,  to  move  the  heart,  — 
The  wrecks  of  hope,  pondering  in  still  despair, 


108        THE   DECK    OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

The  wrecks  of  wealth  and  shattered  competence, 

Injustice  suffering  or  the  wages  hard 

Of  former  arrogance  in  plenteous  days, 

The  wrecks  of  health,  weak,  shapeless,  and  forlorn, 

The  wrecks  of  honor,  firm  no  more  and  true, 

Leaving  the  straight  course  of  integrity, 

The  wrecks  of  mind,  wandering  they  know  not 

where, 

By  winds  disordered  on  disordered  seas, 
With  compass  all  distracted  in  its  points, 
The  wrecks  of  love  sincere,  but  cast  aside 
By  those  unworthy  of  its  blessedness, 
Moving  disconsolate  in  disarray 
With  aimless  fancies  upon  aimless  waves. 
On  billows  glaring  with  deceptive  light 
Are  found  the  saddest  wrecks  of  all,  the  wrecks 
Of  rosy  beauty  turned  to  ruddy  shame, 
And  whitening  then  to  die. 

Whene'er  these  barks 
Reach  where  on  stormy  waves  these  wrecks  are 

seen, 

The  careful  watch  on  deck  the  signal  give, 
And  instantly  with  charity's  commotion 
Are  all  on  board  alive ;  the  boats  let  down, 
Furnished  with  ready  succor,  briefly  wait, 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.       109 

And  the  eager  crew  need  no  command  to  press 
Where  the  wreck  struggles  in  complete  distress, 
Which,  when  they  reach,  with  hastening  hands 

they  seek 

To  bend  new  sails,  to  bind  the  splintered  spars, 
To  stop  the  yawning  leaks  or  ply  the  pumps, 
To  fix  the  unhinged  rudder,  or  to  set 
The  mind's  chronometer  that  leads  astray, 
Or  to  supply  celestial  quadrants  good, 
Which,  through  the  lenses  strong  of  faith  and 

hope, 

Enable  human  souls  to  see  how  high 
The  Sun  of  grace  has  risen  on  their  course  ; 
To  famished  inmates  is  provided  food  ; 
The  broken  ships  to  harbors  snug  are  led, 
Until  again  ready  to  plough  the  sea, 
With  best  directions  from  the  heavenly  chart, 
Or  to  abide  secure  till  reason's  ray 
Shall  shine  again,  when  breaks  immortal  day. 
After  such  offices  of  good  are  done, 
The  charitable  ones  in  silence  go 
Back  to  their  ships,  chartered  by  love  sincere, 
Freighted  with  blessings,  wafted  by  the  gales 
Which  blow  directly  from  the  pearly  gate 
Of  Paradise  upon  man's  suffering  state. 


110        THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

See  at  its  final  port  a  ship  arrive, 
After  long  wrestling  with  the  storms  of  life  ; 
The  shrouds  and  braces  where  the  tempest  howled 
Are   now   transformed    to    chords  where   music 

breathes 

Of  heavenly  origin,  which  soothes  and  cheers 
The  last,  declining  period  of  the  voyage ; 
The  faithful  anchor  hangs  upon  the  bows, 
A  refuge  oft  before  from  drifting  winds, 
And  ready  to  hold  fast  the  stately  bark, 
When  it  has  reached  the  narrow  strand  that  severs 
Time  from  Eternity,  that  it  may  stand 
Fearless  in  that  dread  hour  of  mortal  change, 
Until  the  angelic  lighter  from  the  shore 
Of  endless  time  draws  near  to  take  the  freight, 
And  store  it  in  the  treasury  of  God. 
For  every  mortal  vessel  bears  a  freight 
Precious  indeed,  which  cost  a  Prince's  life 
To  save  it  from  destruction ;  this  gem  divine, 
With  fadeless  life  endowed,  burnished  with  care 
By  the  celestial  graver's  patient  skill, 
Changes  the  grossness  of  its  human  stains 
For  the  far-shining  beauty  of  the  skies  ; 
But,  ere  this  end  be  reached,  hard  discipline 
The  costly  jewel  needs ;  and  many  a  stroke 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.        Ill 

To  it  is  given,  which  seems  as  it  would  break, 
Not  cleanse,  the  gem,  yet,  when  the  dust  of  grief 
Is  by  the  graver  gently  breathed  away, 
Where  were  the  strokes  most  hard  and  frequent, 

there 

Are  left  the  brightest  places  in  the  gem. 
This  rich  freight  incorruptible  is  borne 
To  its  sure  house  of  shelter,  while  is  left 
The  hulk  behind,  victim  of  quick  decay, 
Till,  by  a  word,  transformed  in  every  part, 
With  amaranthine  signals  from  its  bows 
And  floating  at  the  peak,  the  spirit-ship, 
Again  receiving  its  resplendent  freight, 
With  pure,  white  sails  of  heavenly  love  and  joy, 
Soft,  fragrant  breezes  from  the  blessed  isles, 
And  frame  constructed  of  the  Tree  of  life, 

Shall  glide  serenely  with  immortal  pace 
i 
O'er  crystal  seas  of  glory  and  of  grace. 

On  the  next  morning  the  Crescent  City  is  not 
yet  in  order  to  go,  or  the  rest  of  Sunday  is  re 
spected,  that  she  may  begin  her  voyage  with  the 
secular  week.  A  fresh  October  wind,  coming  a 
month  before  its  time,  has  cleared  the  air,  the 
waters  of  the  bay  are  beautifully  bright,  and 


112        THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

every  thing  about  looks   calm   and   peaceful,  as 
becomes  the  hallowed  season. 

The  holy  concord  of  religious  bells 

Now  through  the  city  sounds,  calling  to  prayer. 

Each  spire  and  tower  becomes  a  beacon,  where 

The  sentinel  in  brazen  armor  clad, 

Catching  the  signal  from  his  neighbor's  tongue, 

Bears  with  his  own  the  sacred  message  on, 

To  summon  men  to  gain  by  humble  prayer 

Strength  to  resist  their  spiritual  foes. 

The  various  temples  where  dismembered  Truth 

Sighs  for  recovery  of  its  lost  estate 

Of  unity  on  earth,  receive  the  throngs 

Who  heed  the  summons  of  the  sacred  day, 

While  greater  throngs  disdain  the  blessed  sound. 

In  consecrated  structures  there  is  heard 
The  language  old,  in  which  were  heralded 
The  orders  which  the  subject  world  obeyed, 
But  which,  transferred  to  Christian  usages 
And  redolent  of  saintly  fragrances 
Of  centuries,  and  of  as  many  fears 
And  woes  and  wrongs,  in  holy  anthems  rolls, 
While  are  some  faithful  souls  borne  on  their  course 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.        113 

Towards  heavenly  crowns  in  Roman  chariots. 
The  liturgies  that  nerve  the  Saxon  tongue 
With  words  of  grace  there  bend  and  lift  by  turns 
The  waiting  heart,  memorials  dear  of  her 
Enthroned    where    Thames     and    cultured    Isis 

glide, 
The  world's  best  shrine  in  days  of  doubt   and 

gloom. 
And    the   chief  germ   divine,  from   which   shall 

grow 

The  Empire-Church  to  rule  and  bless  the  earth, 
Crowned  now  with  beauty,  as  when  sighing  Faith, 
From  the  corrupt  Ark  flying,  sought  and  found 
Within  her  shades  the  olive-yards  of  rest. 

Yet  whatever  shapes  sincere  devotion  takes, 
If  from  hearts  lowly  coming,  prayers  ascend 
As  an  angelic  concourse  to  the  skies, 
And  find  a  hearing  at  God's  ready  throne. 
The  humblest  head  that  bows  itself  unseen 
May  from  its  lips  send  messengers  of  prayer, 
Which  upward  speed  upon  their  hallowed  flight, 
Like  the  swift  beams  of  the  Sun's  eastern  light ; 
While  many  a  full  response,  sonorous,  clear, 
May  fail  to  reach  the  Almighty's  open  ear. 


114        THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY. 

So  this  invisible  and  suppliant  throng 
Rise  up  together  towards  heaven's  pearly  gate. 
If  any  are  more  buoyant  than  the  rest, 
They  may  be  those  that  issue  from  the  hearts 
Of  weather-beaten  mariners  in  port, 
Who  in  the  floating  chapel  bend  the  knee, 
While  the  soft  undulation  of  the  sea 
Answers  to  the  liturgic  waves  within 
Of  praise  and  supplication ;  and  if  any 
Slower  ascend,  they  may  be  some  that  rise 
From  marble  walls,  by  imitative  spires, 
Too  much  encumbered  to  spring  up  with  ease, 
Stiff  with  brocade,  laden  with  gems  and  gold. 

See,  from  the  tallest  spire  the  sacred  Cross 
Glows  in  the  sun,  projected  on  the  sky 
Like  the  blest  sign  that  greeted  Cons  tan  tine, 
Telling  to  men  of  Him  who  died  thereon, 
To  make  by  pains  and  tears  a  path  to  heaven. 
While  rival  empires  hasten  to  decay, 
And  pales  the  wisdom  sages  teach  and  learn, 
One  sentence  still  shall  far  outshine  the  day, 
And  fainting  men  to  living  waters  turn  : 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  takes  away 
The  world's  sin  "  ;  no  brave  conqueror's  flashing 
sword, 


THE   DECK   OP   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.      115 

No  armies,  navies,  no  strong  castle's  might, 

Such  hope  and  help  to  weary  souls  afford 

As  gleam  and  guide  from  out  those  words  oflight. 

They  surest  mount  to  reach  the  eternal  skies, 

Who  humblest  learn  how  low  on  earth  they  are  ; 

They  first  behold  the  glorious  Sun  arise, 

Who  keep  the  vigils  of  the  eastern  star. 

After  the  shadows  of  Sunday  have  deepened 
into  night,  and  that  again,  hours  ago,  has  retreat 
ed  before  the  dawn  of  Monday,  which  ushers  the 
world  upon  its  busy  race,  boats  are  seen  hastening 
from  the  Battery  with  passengers,  to  challenge 
the  ship  to  stay  no  longer  at  her  anchorage.  The 
preparations  at  last  are  over,  and  she  breathes 
more  freely  from  her  iron  lungs,  those  stout  respi 
rators,  that  bear  any  climate  and  any  wind,  and 
which  are  less  likely  to  suffer  a  fatal  congestion 
in  the  chilly  North  and  East,  than  between  the 
flowery  banks  of  the  Mississippi.  The  anchor 
obeys  the  persuasive  chain,  that  draws  it  hastily 
and  gayly  from  its  place  of  rest,  and  the  a  Cres 
cent  City,"  upon  the  imaginary  deck  of  which 
these  foregoing  speculations  have  been  made, 
springs  upon  her  course,  while  more  practical 


116       THE   DECK   OF    THE   CKESCENT   CITY. 

speculations,  as  the  world  will  deem  them,  float 
busily  in  many  minds.  It  is  the  first  part  of  Sep 
tember,  and  the  islands  near  by  are  yet  bright 
and  green  with  the  lingering  loveliness  of  summer ; 
mansions  border  the  waters,  or  rise  upon  gentle 
heights  ;  open  fields  glisten  with  verdure  ;  towns 
grow  into  cities  wellnigh  as  fast  as  the  harvest 
ripens  from  the  seed ;  institutions  of  charity  are 
built  upon  fair  and  salubrious  spots,  as  though 
the  sight  and  health  of  the  poor  were  not  to  be 
disregarded ;  establishments  by  the  water-side  af 
ford  relief  for  sojourners  from  the  city's  dust  and 
heat;  ships  arrive  laden  with  cargoes  from  all 
lands  and  with  living  crowds  from  the  Old  World's 
destitution,  or  go  forth  with  full  and  eager  sails 
for  ports  in  distant  seas;  the  substantial  light 
ship,  the  blessing  of  the  coast,  sways  at  her  fast 
anchorage,  ready  to  guide  and  delight  the  mariner, 
as  he  approaches  home,  and  not  to  be  passed  with 
out  a  benediction,  by  day  or  by  night,  and  wheth 
er  kissed  by  the  breezes  of  summer,  or  bleached 
by  the  mantles  of  winter.  Groups  of  people 
watch  the  progress  of  the  ship,  and  with  voices 
and  hands  signify  their  interest  and  pleasure. 
No  signs  of  lordly  splendor  meet  the  sight,  and 


THE   DECK   OF   THE   CRESCENT   CITY.        117 

the  bays  of  Italy  may  be  spanned  by  serener 
skies,  yet  the  bay  of  New  York  is  among  the 
glories  of  the  globe.  Nature  for  three  seasons  is 
beautiful,  and  even  winter,  beneath  the  clear  cold 
and  sunlight,  assumes  an  ermine  softness  set  off 
with  diamond  brilliancy.  Proofs  of  thrift  and 
care  are  upon  every  side,  as  though  all  were 
agreed  to  make  the  land  a  paradise  of  industry. 
The  criminal,  shut  out  from  the  sympathies  of  dai 
ly  life,  is  not  denied  the  invigorating  breeze,  and 
a  view  of  the  broad  sky.  And  those  whose  gates 
of  reason  are  closed,  to  whom  the  melodies  of 
nature  are  discords,  and  the  land  and  the  sea 
without  order  and  beauty,  may  summon  their  army 
of  fantastic  images  in  a  pure  air,  and  may  array 
in  incongruous  shapes  the  clouds  and  the  stars ; 
the  moving  ship  may  be  at  times  as  pleasing  an 
object  in  their  discordant  world  as  it  is  in  this, 
and  the  sight  and  sound  of  active  humanity  may 
revive  happy  glimpses  of  memory,  and  move  the 
heart  with  natural  gladness,  though  at  long  inter 
vals  only  between  mournful  periods  of  vacancy 
and  gloom ;  sometimes  the  bird,  singing  from 
island  to  island,  may  strike  an  answering  note  in 
their  discordant  minds,  and  touch,  though  but  for 


118        THE   DECK   OF   THE    CRESCENT   CITY. 

an  instant,  the  disused  keys  of  sane  thought  and 
emotion,  which  were  wont,  in  other  days,  to  send 
music  through  the  recesses  of  the  soul. 

The  city  is  hidden  from  view,  the  lighthouses 
are  passed,  and  the  land  grows  slowly  dim  in  the 
distance  ;  for  not  even  the  power  of  steam  can 
avail  to  leave  it  so  soon  behind  as  not  to  permit 
many  a  look  upon  lessening  shapes  and  dissolving 
colors.  God  bless  the  voyage  ! 


NOTES. 


To  page  37.  Mr.  Newman,  in  a  note  to  one  of  his  powerful 
and,  in  many  points,  admirable  "  Sermons  on  Subjects  of  the 
Day,"  spoke  as  follows  of  the  then  recent  establishment  of 
the  Episcopate  at  Jerusalem  by  united  England  and  Prussia : 
"  May  that  measure  utterly  fail  and  come  to  naught,  and  be 
as  though  it  had  never  been ! "  May  the  reverend  head  of  the 
Catholic  University  of  Ireland  live  to  be  endowed,  besides 
his  rare  mental  gifts,  with  a  spirit  of  deeper  insight,  so  as  to 
see  the  divine  capacities  of  the  Church  which  he  has  forsaken, 
and  to  u  bless  and  curse  not "  the  most  enlightened  and  mo 
mentous  Christian  act  of  this  age,  as  it  may  be  acknowledged 
by  all  to  be,  when  the  humble  missionary  station  becomes  the 
metropolitan  throne  of  reformed  and  united  Christendom. 

To  page  58.  If  this  concluding  sentence  should  seem  to 
require  a  complement,  it  may  be  in  point  to  say,  that,  should 
there  ever  be  another  Shakspeare,  and  should  he  describe 
another  Hamlet,  he  might'  with  poetical  justice  represent  him 
as  a  man  of  intellectual  aspirations  pent  up  somewhere  in  the 
New  World,  surrounded  by  its  array  of  influences  unfavorable 
to  mental  freedom,  close  by  a  steam-engine,  engaged  night  and 
day  in  making  "  patent  double-million  magnifyin'  gas  micro 
scopes  of  hextra  power  "  for  a  "  great  country  "  to  see  its  mar 
vellous  perfections  through,  or  near  a  University,  compensat 
ing  for  being  profoundly  obsequious  towards  writers  from 
abroad  of  acknowledged  worth  and  power,  by  being  in  the 
main  equally  derisive  towards  those  at  its  side,  who  persist  in 
intellectual  aims,  in  the  face  of  such  partial  countenance.  The 
stupid  Folonius,  whether  a  royal  or  an  academical  councillor, 
whether  an  adept  in  the  fine  phrases  of  his  mother-tongue  or  of 
a  dead  language,  will  ever  regard  as  insane  vagaries  the  strug 
gles  of  an  imprisoned  spirit  panting  for  light  and  air  Ameri 
ca  deliberately  poisons  the  graces  and  sublimities  of  life,  to  en 
joy  without  reserve  the  lust  of  power  and  the  embraces  of  mate 
rial  good  ;  and  while  her  murderous  disposition  remains,  she 
has  no  right  to  be  surprised,  if  those  of  her  sons  who  resist  the 
tide  that  would  drag  them  from  high  designs  to  the  rniry  waters 


120  NOTES. 


of  an  immature  and  unnatural  civilization,  feel  that  they  are 
unjustly  disregarded,  and  sometimes  find  their  loyalty,  which 
they  would  like  to  cherish,  changing,  despite  their  will  and 
effort,  from  a  hearty  sentiment  to  one  of  duty  and  accident 
alone.  The  love  of  country  is  correlative.  A  false  measure 
of  civilization  must  of  course  be  superseded  in  due  time,  at 
whatever  risk  of  convulsion  ;  and  in  the  hour  of  peril,  entreaty 
may  take  the  place  of  disdain.  Mental  immunities  cannot  be 
outraged  and  set  at  naught  for  ever,  and  they  usually  find  a 
defender,  when  the  time  is  ripe.  The  filial  spirit  of  man  will, 
sooner  or  later,  heed  the  visitation,  which  in  the  white  robes  of 
eternity,  and  in  "  the  majesty  of  buried  "  truth  and  beauty, 
with  armor  of  celestial  steel  and  arrows  pointed  with  celestial 
fire,  requires,  in  a  plaintive  but  immortal  voice,  the  vindication, 
at  any  hazard,  of  the  rights  of  the  soul.  The  shackles  of  a 
material  dispensation  may  for  a  while  depress,  but  they  cannot 
destroy  the  undying  life,  which,  though  pining  and  withering  in 
its  bondage,  must  one  day  awake  and  turn  the  cheeks  of  scorn- 
ers  pale,  and  their  sneers  into  cries  for  mercy.  Empires  have 
been  established  by  the  sword,  in  the  place  of  decayed  dynas 
ties  ;  the  pen  may  prove  to  be  equally  mighty  in  dethroning 
false  divinities. 

To  page  87.  It  would  not  be  fair  thus  to  allude  to  the  ec 
centric  energy  of  the  Bishop  of  Exeter,  without  adding  a  word 
of  cordial  praise  for  his  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  organic  prerogatives 
of  the  Church  of  England.  May  that  Church  have  the  grace 
to  heed  the  summons  of  the  familiar  hymn,  which  could  not 
be  more  appropriate,  had  it  been  expressly  written  as  an  appeal 
to  revive  the  rights  of  Convocation  ;  and  may  the  hope  be 
none  the  less  significant  for  coming  from  the  capital  of  Puri 
tan  polity ! 

"  Triumphant  Zion  !  lift  thy  head 
From  dust  and  darkness,  and  the  dead  ; 
Though  humbled  long,  awake  at  length, 
And  gird  thee  with  thy  Saviour's  strength. 

"  Put  all  thy  beauteous  garments  on, 
And  let  thy  excellence  be  known  ; 
Decked  in  the  robes  of  righteousness, 
The  world  thy  glories  shall  confess. 

"  No  more  shall  foes  unclean  invade, 
And  fill  thy  hallowed  walls  with  dread: 
No  more  shall  hell's  insulting  host 
Their  victory  and  thy  sorrows  boast. 

"  God  from  on  high  has  heard  thy  prayer ; 
His  hand  thy  ruin  shall  repair ; 
Nor  will  thy  watchful  Monarch  cease 
To  guard  thee  in  eternal  peace." 


ff 


